| Seven-hour Gaza truce ends; violence hits Jerusalem Posted: 04 Aug 2014 02:55 PM PDT  By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ori Lewis GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement agreed on Monday to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire to end four weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip, while Jerusalem was rocked by two attacks that appeared to be a backlash to the violence. Egypt's plan called for a 72-hour-long truce to begin at 0500 GMT (1.00 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday and then for representatives of Israeli and Palestinian factions to attend talks in Cairo to negotiate a longer-term agreement. Palestinian groups, including envoys of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, met the head of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo earlier on Monday to formulate a plan to end the violence. A few hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet agreed to accept Egypt's proposal, an official in his office said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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| Lebanese army advances in border battle with Islamists Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:53 PM PDT  By Alexander Dziadosz OUTSKIRTS OF ARSAL Lebanon (Reuters) - The Lebanese army advanced on Monday into a border town attacked by Islamists at the weekend in the most serious spillover of the three-year-old Syrian civil war into Lebanon, and the Beirut government said the deadly assault would not go unpunished. With army reinforcements arriving in Arsal, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, a Sunni Muslim, said there could be no political deal with gunmen identified as members of the Nusra Front and the Islamic State, which has seized parts of Syria and Iraq. "The only solution proposed today is the withdrawal of the militants from Arsal and its environs," said Salam, the most senior Sunni in the Lebanese government.
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| Russia to hold war games in show of strength near Ukraine Posted: 04 Aug 2014 01:17 PM PDT  By Timothy Heritage and Maria Tsvetkova MOSCOW/DONESTSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia announced military exercises near the border with Ukraine on Monday in a show of strength as the Ukrainian army recaptured more territory from pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country. The move could alarm Western powers which have accused Russia of beefing up its troops along its border with Ukraine and arming the rebels in eastern Ukraine, although Moscow denies the accusations.
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| Iraqi PM orders air force to help Kurds fight Islamic State Posted: 04 Aug 2014 02:40 PM PDT  By Isra' al-Rubai'i BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his air force for the first time to back Kurdish forces against Islamic State fighters after the Sunni militants made another dramatic push through the north, state television reported on Monday. Tens of thousands of people have fled one of the districts seized by Islamic State fighters in the offensive and are now surrounded, the United Nations said on Monday. Kurdish peshmerga fighters, who gained experience fighting Saddam Hussein's troops, were regarded as one of the few forces capable of standing up to the Sunni insurgents, who faced almost no opposition from Maliki's U.S.-trained army during their lightning advance through the north in June. Then on Sunday the Islamic State inflicted a humiliating defeat on the Kurds with a rapid advance through three towns to reach the Mosul Dam, acquiring a fifth oil field to fund its operations along the way.
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| Scotland's pro-independence camp betting on TV debate to win votes Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:04 PM PDT  By Alistair Smout EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Supporters of Scottish independence are hoping leader Alex Salmond's performance in a U.S.-style television debate on Tuesday can boost their campaign, which is lagging in opinion polls. With just over six weeks to go before Scots vote on whether to break Scotland's 307-year union with England, the "No" campaign holds a steady and substantial lead over the "Yes" camp. The television debate, the first of the campaign, pits Salmond, fast-talking leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, against Alistair Darling, the head of the "Better Together" campaign.
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| U.S. to press South China Sea freeze despite China rejection Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:40 PM PDT  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, at a meeting with Southeast Asian nations this weekend, will press for a voluntary freeze on actions aggravating territorial disputes in the South China Sea, in spite of Beijing's rejection of the idea. Daniel Russel, the State Department's senior diplomat for the East Asia region, said ahead of Kerry's trip to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) that the call was not new and was "not rocket science," but "common sense." A priority for Kerry would be to lower tensions in the South China Sea, where about $5 trillion of maritime trade passes annually, and China and four members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have rival claims.
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| US officials return ancient coins to Greeks Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:58 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — Five ancient coins were returned to the Greek government Monday after a prominent collector from Rhode Island was prosecuted in a New York case that roiled the numismatic world.
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| Britain remembers WWI dead, 100 years on Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:55 PM PDT Lights went out across Britain on Monday to commemorate 100 years since the outbreak of World War I, which claimed the lives of nearly one million Britons. Homes, businesses and famous landmarks turned off their lights for an hour from 10:00 pm (2100 GMT) and lit a single candle, inspired by a remark by Britain's then foreign minister Edward Grey on the eve of war that "the lamps are going out all over Europe; A lantern was left on the steps of 10 Downing Street, the official residence of Prime Minister David Cameron, as part of the campaign organised by the Royal British Legion charity. |
| Libya's new parliament calls for unity as rival militias clash Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:41 PM PDT  By Patrick Markey and Aziz El Yaakoubi TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's new parliament appealed for national unity at its first formal session on Monday as rival armed factions battled for dominance of a country struggling to hold itself together three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi. Hours before parliament met in the eastern city of Tobruk, heavy artillery and rocket fire bombarded southern and western Tripoli, where Islamist-leaning Misrata brigades have fought for three weeks with rival militias allied with the town of Zintan. Lawmakers gathered in a heavily guarded hotel in Tobruk because three weeks of fighting in Tripoli and Benghazi had made Libya's two main cities unsafe for the parliamentary session. Western nations, which have mostly pulled their diplomats out of the North African country due to the fighting, hope that the new assembly can nudge the warring factions toward a ceasefire and negotiations to end a political deadlock.
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| IOC awards Aussie TV rights to Seven through 2020 Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Seven Network has re-acquired the Australian broadcast rights to the next three Olympics, the latest long-term television deal struck by the IOC. |
| Carnival plans to build cruise port in Haiti Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A major Florida-based cruise line has signed a letter of intent to develop a new port on an isolated Haitian barrier island that has long been a major launching spot for smugglers, authorities said Monday. |
| Israel, Palestinians accept Egypt's 72-hour truce bid Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:33 PM PDT By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ori Lewis GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement agreed on Monday to an Egyptian-proposed ceasefire to end four weeks of fighting in the Gaza Strip, while Jerusalem was rocked by two attacks that appeared to be a backlash to the violence. Egypt's plan called for a 72-hour-long truce to begin at 0500 GMT on Tuesday and then for representatives of Israeli and Palestinian factions to attend talks in Cairo to negotiate a longer-term agreement. Palestinian groups, including envoys of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, met the head of Egyptian intelligence in Cairo earlier on Monday to formulate a plan to end the violence. A few hours later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet agreed to accept Egypt's proposal, an official in his office said, speaking on condition of anonymity. |
| Nigerian army accused of 'extensive' rights violations Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:33 PM PDT  Global rights watchdog Amnesty International accused Nigeria's military and its supporting civilian militia on Tuesday of "extensive human rights violations" in their fight against Boko Haram in the country's northeast. Amnesty said gruesome video footage, images and witness testimonies gathered during a recent research mission to Borno State provided "fresh evidence of extrajudicial executions and serious human rights violations" carried out in the region as Nigerian troops battle the extremist group. The footage includes images of detainees having their throats slit one by one and dumped in mass graves "by men who appear to be members of the Nigerian military and the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), state-sponsored militias," it said. "The ghastly images are backed up by the numerous testimonies we have gathered which suggest that extrajudicial executions are, in fact, regularly carried out by the Nigerian military and CJTF," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general.
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| World leaders mark outbreak of WWI Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:17 PM PDT  World leaders on Monday commemorated the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I by warning of lessons to be learned in the face of today's many crises, including Ukraine. "Peace has to be a shared goal," Belgium's King Philippe told leaders gathered in his country's eastern city of Liege. Leaders from across Europe -- from Britain and Ireland to Germany, Austria, Bulgaria and Malta -- attended the commemoration at the Allied War Memorial of Cointe, a tower complex overlooking the city alongside a weathered grey-stone church painted with white doves for the occasion.
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| Yanks' Tanaka plays catch, Pineda feels strong Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:12 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Masahiro Tanaka has taken a very small step toward returning to the New York Yankees rotation, playing a pain-free game of catch. |
| Israel, Hamas agree on new 72-hour truce Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:06 PM PDT  Israel and Hamas said they have agreed on a new 72-hour truce starting on Tuesday after increasingly vocal world demands for a ceasefire in the bloody Gaza conflict. The apparent breakthrough came during talks in Cairo on Monday, only days after a similar three-day truce collapsed in a deadly wave of violence within hours of starting on Friday. Images of the bloodshed -- which has cost more than 1,800 Palestinian lives, and 64 Israeli soldiers in and near Gaza and three civilians in Israel -- have sent tensions in the region soaring, earning the Jewish state strong criticism. "How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?" French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius asked, as Britain said it was reviewing licences to sell arms to Israel.
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| S.Africa leader says new BRICS bank will help all Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:05 PM PDT  A new development bank launched by emerging economies will help all nations in distress to return to health, South African President Jacob Zuma said Monday. The so-called BRICS -- Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa -- announced last month that they were setting up a development bank and emergency reserve fund. This was seen as a major challenge to the Washington-based International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which some emerging powers see as biased towards Western policy positions. Zuma, visiting Washington for a US-Africa summit, argued that the IMF has few success stories to show despite the often austere regimens it imposes on troubled economies in return for emergency loans.
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| Israel, Hamas accept Egyptian cease-fire plan Posted: 04 Aug 2014 04:03 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Hamas on Monday accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal meant to halt a bruising monthlong war that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives, raising hopes that the bloodiest round of fighting between the bitter enemies could finally be coming to an end.
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| Lebanese clerics mediating to end Arsal fighting attacked, wounded Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:53 PM PDT Five Lebanese Sunni Muslim clerics were wounded when their convoy came under fire on Tuesday as it entered the border town of Arsal, which was attacked by Islamists at the weekend and has seen one of the worst spillover of civil war into Lebanon. A Sunni cleric in the town told Reuters the clerics were slightly wounded and were treated in a hospital in the town. "The clerics are now in a hospital in Arsal, their convoy came under fire from an area that is controlled by the army," Mustafa al-Hujairi, a leading Sunni cleric in Arsal, told Reuters. The clerics were members of Lebanon's Muslim Clerics Association who went to the town to agree on a ceasefire to end two days of fighting between Lebanese army and gunmen in which at least people were killed. |
| Drought forces some boats from shrinking Great Salt Lake in Utah Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:48 PM PDT  By Jennifer Dobner SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - Drought forced an early end to the sailing season for some Utah enthusiasts on Monday as a huge crane lifted boats out of the Great Salt Lake State Park Marina, where officials say the water is at its lowest level for more than 50 years. "We've had a couple of tough winters here," said harbor master Dave Shearer, watching as the crane gingerly raised a 37-foot Ranger sailboat out of its slip then lowered it onto a trailer in the parking lot. "Some of the deep draft boats are having to pull out now, rather than make the hard choice of having their keels stuck in the mud all winter 'til the lake comes back up." Fed by four rivers and a handful of streams, the Great Salt Lake sits about 20 miles west of Salt Lake City, stretching 75 miles long and about 35 miles wide. So far, that has forced about 70 boats from the 320-slip marina, where water levels have been dropping consistently.
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| Iraq air force to back Kurds fighting Islamists Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:47 PM PDT  Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has called upon his country's armed forces to help the Kurdish military battle a Sunni militant offensive in northern Iraq that has caused tens of thousands of people from the minority Yazidi community to flee their homes.
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| American imprisoned in Cuba says goodbye to family Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:45 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer for an American who has spent more than four years imprisoned in Cuba said Monday that his client cannot take life in prison much longer and has said his goodbyes to his wife and a daughter.
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| Argentina loses bid to oust debt dispute mediator Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:44 PM PDT  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A U.S. judge on Monday turned back an effort by Argentina's government to remove the court-appointed mediator in the dispute with creditors that triggered a default by the country last week.
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| Vegas resort planned at former New Frontier site Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:36 PM PDT  LAS VEGAS (AP) — A new resort could soon spring up on the vacant Las Vegas Strip site of the former New Frontier casino, thanks to a partnership between Australian billionaire James Packer and former Wynn Las Vegas President Andrew Pascal.
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| UN council backs Lebanon against Syria militants Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:36 PM PDT  The UN Security Council on Monday condemned attacks by extremist groups in Lebanon, backing the government's military response but warning Beirut against being dragged deeper into the Syria conflict. At least 16 Lebanese soldiers have been killed in three days of clashes with jihadists near the Syrian border and 22 others are missing, according to the Lebanese army. The 15-member Council "expressed support for the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Internal Security Forces in their fight against terrorism and in preventing attempts to undermine the stability of Lebanon." Member states "reiterated the need to further efforts to build up the capabilities of the Lebanese security forces to counter terrorism and address other security challenges."
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| Beacon recovered after teen pilot's ocean crash Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:33 PM PDT PAGO PAGO, American Samoa (AP) — Officials in American Samoa on Monday recovered a personal locator beacon registered to an Indiana teen and his father who crashed off the U.S. territory last month as they attempted to fly around the world. |
| Senegal ex-leader's son back in dock at graft trial Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:31 PM PDT  Lawyers acting for the son of former Senegalese leader Abdoulaye Wade challenged the legitimacy of his accusers on Monday as his multi-million dollar corruption trial resumed. Karim Wade, 45, is alleged to have corruptly acquired companies and real estate worth almost $240 million (180 million euros) during his time as a minister in his father's government.
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| Groups: US political effort in Cuba hurts aid work Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:27 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. program in Cuba that secretly used an HIV-prevention workshop for political activism was assailed Monday by international public health officials and members of Congress who declared that such clandestine efforts put health programs at risk around the world.
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| US sent Latin youth undercover in anti-Cuba ploy Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:23 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Fernando Murillo was typical of the young Latin Americans deployed by a U.S. agency to work undercover in Cuba. He had little training in the dangers of clandestine operations — or how to evade one of the world's most sophisticated counter-intelligence services. |
| Obama signs funding package for Israel's Iron Dome Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:21 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has signed a bill granting an additional $225 million in U.S. taxpayer dollars for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
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| ATP cancels tournament in Israel amid conflict Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:20 PM PDT TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The ATP tour on Monday canceled the inaugural Israel Open that was set to be played next month in Tel Aviv because of security concerns "arising from the military conflict in the region." |
| Hurricane Bertha poses no threat to land: NHC Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:20 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Bertha became the second hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season on Monday but poses no threat to land as it stays well out to sea, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Hurricane Bertha was upgraded from a tropical storm when it was about 230 miles (370 km) east-northeast of Great Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas, the Miami-based NHC said. "There is no threat to land," said Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist. There could be concerns about Newfoundland but it is unclear if Bertha will still have characteristics of a tropical storm when it nears the Canadian province, he said.
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| World Bank pledges $200 million to fight Ebola Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:16 PM PDT  The World Bank said Monday that it would provide up to $200 million to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help the West African nations contain a deadly Ebola outbreak. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, himself an expert on infectious diseases, said he has been monitoring the spread of the virus and was "deeply saddened" at how it was contributing to the breakdown of "already weak health systems in the three countries." The funding will help provide medical supplies, pay medical staff and take care of other priorities to contain the epidemic and try to prevent future outbreaks, the World Bank said. The death toll from the Ebola outbreak on Monday reached 887 after 61 more fatalities were recorded, according to the World Health Organization.
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| 250 hostages of Ugandan rebels freed in DR Congo Posted: 04 Aug 2014 03:07 PM PDT  In a joint assault on a Ugandan rebel movement, the Congolese army and UN troops have freed more than 250 civilian hostages in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a senior official said Monday. "We are still taking in several hostages" captured by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and released during the offensive that began in January, Bernard Amisi Kalonda, administrator of the Beni territory, told AFP. Local authorities and representatives of civil society plan to compare their lists to make sense of wide discrepancies in figures of freed hostages as well as the number of people still held by the ADF.
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