| Ukraine president accuses Russian soldiers of backing rebel thrust Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:49 PM PDT By Richard Balmforth and Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's president said on Thursday that Russian troops had entered his country in support of pro-Moscow rebels who captured a key coastal town, sharply escalating a separatist war and prompting anger and alarm among Kiev's Western allies. President Barack Obama stopped short of calling Russia's actions an invasion. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told his security chiefs the situation was "extraordinarily difficult ... but controllable" after Russian-backed rebels seized the town of Novoazovsk in the southeast of the former Soviet republic. Earlier, Poroshenko said he had canceled a visit to Turkey because of the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in the eastern Donetsk region, "as Russian troops have actually been brought into Ukraine". |
| Video shows Islamic State executes scores of Syrian soldiers Posted: 28 Aug 2014 12:49 PM PDT  By Sylvia Westall and Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters executed scores of Syrian soldiers captures when the militants seized an airbase in the province of Raqqa at the weekend, according to a video posted on You Tube on Thursday. The video, confirmed as genuine by an Islamic State fighter, showed the bodies of dozens of men lying face down wearing nothing but their underwear. An Islamic State fighter in Raqqa told Reuters via the Internet: "Yes, we have executed them all." The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in the war, put the death toll at more than 120. Islamic State, a radical offshoot of al Qaeda, stormed Tabqa airbase on Sunday after days of clashes with the army and said it had captured and killed soldiers and officers in one of the bloodiest confrontations yet between the two sides.
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| Exclusive: U.S. may use secrets act to stop suit against Iran sanctions group Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:16 PM PDT  Greek businessman and ship owner Victor Restis last year sued UANI for defamation after the New York-based group, whose advisors include former intelligence officials from the United States, Europe and Israel, accused him of violating sanctions on Iran by exporting oil from the country. Restis denies doing illegal business with Iran.
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| Turkey's Erdogan sworn in as president, consolidates power Posted: 28 Aug 2014 01:27 PM PDT  By Gulsen Solaker and Tulay Karadeniz ANKARA (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in as Turkey's president on Thursday, cementing his position as its most powerful leader of recent times, in a step opponents fear heralds more authoritarian rule and widening religious influence in public life. Reading the oath of office in a ceremony in parliament, Erdogan vowed to protect Turkey's independence and integrity, to abide by the constitution and by the principles of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular republic. Erdogan, who had been prime minister since 2003, has consistently presented his time in office as a historic mission to transform Turkey domestically and as a regional power. "We're now more worried than ever about one-man, autocratic rule in Turkey," CHP deputy Aykan Erdemir told Reuters.
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| U.N. says 43 Golan peacekeepers seized by militants, 81 trapped Posted: 28 Aug 2014 02:38 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Militants fighting the Syrian army have detained 43 U.N. peacekeepers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and trapped another 81 in the region, and the world body is working to secure their release, the United Nations said on Thursday. The affected peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "During a period of increased fighting beginning yesterday between armed elements and Syrian Arab Armed Forces within the area of separation in the Golan Heights, 43 peacekeepers from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) were detained early this morning by an armed group in the vicinity of Al Qunaytirah," the U.N. press office said in a statement.
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| Israel police find body of missing U.S. student Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:02 PM PDT  Israeli police said on Thursday they had found the body of a 23-year-old American student who went missing last week near a forest in Jerusalem and that they did not suspect a criminal motive. Aaron Sofer, a Jewish seminary student from New Jersey, vanished last Friday while walking in woods not far from the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. His body was found earlier on Thursday. "Following a forensic examination, the body ... was identified as that of missing person Aaron Sofer.
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| U.S. openly accuses Russia of sending combat troops to Ukraine Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:57 PM PDT By Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday openly accused Russia of sending combat forces into Ukraine and threatened to tighten economic sanctions, but Washington stopped short of calling Moscow's intensified support for separatist forces an invasion. President Barack Obama again ruled out U.S. |
| Asian tourists injured in Canada bus crash Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:56 PM PDT VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Police say a bus carrying Asian tourists has rolled over on a mountain highway in British Columbia and dozens of people have been injured, six of them critically. |
| Libya's interim government resigns under pressure Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:52 PM PDT  Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - Libya's toothless interim government, led by prime minister Abdullah al-Thani, announced late Thursday it had tendered its resignation to the elected parliament, days after a rival Islamist administration was created.
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| Environmentalists ready to sue over Miami port's deep dredge Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:45 PM PDT  Army Corps of Engineers after researchers found dredging to deepen the port of Miami is burying coral and could destroy the surrounding marine ecosystem for years to come. "All we're asking for is that they follow state and federal law and they're simply not doing that," said Rachel Silverstein, executive director of the Biscayne Bay Waterkeeper, a local environmental advocacy group. It is part of nearly $2 billion of infrastructure work that the port hopes will attract the larger cargo ships expected to pass through the expanded Panama Canal when it is completed. "The situation is worsened by the fact that the (ocean floor) is now covered with a layer of sediment that will prohibit (future coral) settlement and attachment," the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) wrote earlier this month in a letter to the Army Corps.Coral is a stationary animal that slowly grows for decades on sea floors and is a key component of ocean habitats. A spokeswoman for the Army Corps, Susan Jackson, told Reuters by email that the Corps is finalizing its response to the FDEP and plans to submit it early next week.Environmental groups who sought to block the dredge during its planning phase sent a warning letter to the Army Corps in July asking them to fix the issues.
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| Obama taps veteran diplomat to be Afghan envoy Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:44 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is tapping a veteran diplomat with experience in Kabul to be the next U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan. |
| Doubts surround plane in Brazil campaign Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:42 PM PDT  SAO PAULO (AP) — Doubts surrounding the legality of the purchase of a small private plane used by the Brazilian Socialist Party have placed the campaign of presidential hopeful Marina Silva under scrutiny this week.
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| Pro-Scottish independence side gaining ground: poll Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:40 PM PDT  Support for Scottish independence appears to be gaining ground three weeks ahead of the historic referendum, according to a poll published on Friday. The Survation survey found 47 percent of respondents would vote "Yes" to independence, compared to 53 percent who would vote "No", excluding people who were undecided. "Yes" campaign leader and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond was widely seen to have won the debate against "No" campaign leader Alistair Darling. The survey was of 1,001 people of voting age, and found 11 percent of respondents said they remained undecided, a drop of 2 percent from the previous poll.
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| Syrian charged in plot against troops is now in US Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:39 PM PDT PHOENIX (AP) — A Syrian man has been extradited to Arizona to face charges that he supplied components of improvised explosive devices to a jihadist group in Iraq that mounted attacks against the U.S. military. |
| Colombia court allows lesbian adoption Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT  Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that a lesbian woman could adopt her long-time partner's daughter, though the ruling does not apply to gay adoption in all circumstances. Ana Leiderman appealed to the court to let her partner, Veronica Botero, adopt her biological daughter after the Colombian Family Well-being Institute rejected Botero's adoption application. With six votes for and three abstentions, the court ruled that Leiderman, who underwent artificial insemination to conceive her daughter and raised her together with Botero, had the right to request an adoption by her partner regardless of sex.
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| Obama tamps down prospect of strikes in Syria Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:35 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama tamped down the prospect of imminent U.S. military action in Syria on Thursday, saying "we don't have a strategy yet" for degrading the violent militant group seeking to establish a caliphate in the Middle East.
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| US OPEN SCENE: Serena's opponent sure can sing Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:32 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — She might have been out-hit by Serena Williams at the U.S. Open, but Vania King hit all the right notes at her news conference afterward.
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| Flight diverts to Boston over reclined-seat upset Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:30 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — An outburst over a reclined seat led an American Airlines flight to divert to Boston, at least the second such incident in the U.S. this week, authorities said. |
| ARU announces measures to tackle discrimination Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:24 PM PDT SYDNEY (AP) — The Australian Rugby Union has plans to tackle all forms of discrimination in the game and has outlined the policy on the opening day of Bingham Cup gay rugby tournament. |
| Pollution, smoking, roads, obesity kill 4.7m Chinese a year Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:23 PM PDT  Air pollution, smoking, obesity and accidents, especially on the road, kill at least 4.7 million Chinese a year and cost the country tens of billions of dollars, researchers said on Friday. In an overview published in The Lancet, they said China had in some respects made great strides in health, boosting the average lifespan from 40 years in 1950 to 76 years in 2011 and rolling back many infectious diseases. On the other hand, the risk of premature death and sickness from pollution, smoking, road crashes and "lifestyle" ailments is worse than before. The trio of Chinese and US experts said China had the chance of learning from rich countries which had already been down this path, a by-product of rising prosperity.
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| UN: Ebola disease caseload could reach 20,000 Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:22 PM PDT  The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is accelerating and could grow six times larger to infect as many as 20,000 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency unveiled a new road map for containing the virus, and scientists are fast-tracking efforts to find a treatment or vaccine.
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| Attempt to call missing jet may alter search area Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:21 PM PDT  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Shortly after the missing Malaysian airliner disappeared from radar, airline officials on the ground tried repeatedly to call the crew of the Boeing 777 using a satellite phone that might have left clues to the jet's flight path.
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| Google building fleet of package-delivering drones Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:09 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's secretive research laboratory is trying to build a fleet of drones designed to bypass earthbound traffic so packages can be delivered to people more quickly. |
| Madonsela: S.Africa's fearless public protector takes on Zuma Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:06 PM PDT  Named this year by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people, South Africa's Public Protector Thuli Madonsela would probably top the government's list of the most irritating. The softly-spoken 51-year-old mother of two has shown a steely resistance to political pressure in her role as government-appointed ombudswoman, clashing head-on with President Jacob Zuma. In South Africa and many other countries on the continent it is revolutionary. Madonsela has become the figurehead for a wave of outrage over the spending of $24 million (18 million euros) of taxpayers' money on so-called "security upgrades" at Zuma's private rural residence at Nkandla in the southeastern KwaZulu-Natal province.
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| Boca Juniors fire coach Carlos Bianchi Posted: 28 Aug 2014 04:04 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Boca Juniors have fired coach Carlos Bianchi, the most successful coach in the club's history. |
| Somalia sues Kenya at top UN court over maritime border Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:59 PM PDT  Somalia took its maritime border dispute with Kenya to the United Nations' top court on Thursday, which could decide the fate of potentially lucrative oil and gas reserves off east Africa. The dispute has been simmering for years, keeping investors away because of the lack of legal clarity over who owns potential offshore oil and gas reserves. The internationally-backed government in Mogadishu is seeking to claw back authority over Somalia's territorial waters, including the area bordering Kenya that is potentially rich in oil and gas deposits. Kenya, which has had troops in southern Somalia since 2011, first as an invading force and then as part of an African Union peacekeeping force, lays claim to a triangle of water stretching for more than 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles) that Mogadishu also claims.
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| 43 UN peacekeepers seized in Syrian Golan Heights Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:55 PM PDT  Syrian armed groups, some of whom are linked to Al-Qaeda, captured 43 UN peacekeepers on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights on Thursday and surrounded 81 others, the UN said. The 43 peacekeepers from Fiji were forced to surrender their weapons and taken hostage near the Quneitra crossing, but 81 Filipino blue helmets "held their ground" and refused to disarm, the Filipino defense department said. "This resulted in a stand-off which is still the prevailing situation at this time, as UN officials try to peacefully resolve the situation," said the statement from Manila. Fiji army chief Brigadier-General Mosese Tikoitoga said the captured peacekeepers were all safe, and asked people in the Pacific nation to pray that they are released unharmed.
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| Mickelson in a bind with 4 straight playoff events Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:51 PM PDT  NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Phil Mickelson isn't a fan of four straight FedEx Cup playoff events that follows a summer of big events and precedes the Ryder Cup.
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| Spliced Lula video annoys ruling party in Brazil election Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:48 PM PDT Brazil's ruling party has asked Google Inc to pull a spliced campaign video from YouTube that gives viewers the impression its leader, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is backing opposition presidential candidate Marina Silva. Silva, a popular environmentalist, has surged in the polls and is threatening to defeat President Dilma Rousseff in the October elections, unseating Lula's Worker's Party after 12 years in power. In the video, a cheerful Lula backs the election of "Marina." But the candidate he is referring to is Marina Santana, who is seeking a Senate seat for the state of Goiás. |
| Obama says 'no strategy yet' as IS executes Syrian troops Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:44 PM PDT  US President Barack Obama admitted Thursday that he still did not have a strategy to fight Islamic State jihadists in Syria, as the militants boasted they had executed scores of Syrian troops -- the latest in a string of atrocities that have shocked the world. Dampening hopes of imminent air strikes in Syria, Obama said he was still developing a comprehensive plan to defeat for good IS, which has also overrun large swathes of Iraq. The civil war in Syria has killed some 191,000 people since it erupted in March 2011 with President Bashar al-Assad's bloody effort to put down an uprising. The chaotic situation on the ground was underlined by the seizing by rival Islamist rebels, led by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, of 43 UN peacekeepers on the Golan Heights -- part of a mission that has monitored an armistice between Syrian and Israeli troops on the strategic plateau for decades.
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| Dominican legal status still elusive for migrants Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:43 PM PDT  SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — The Dominican Republic will soon issue the first residency and work permits for migrants under a new program that will enable them to avoid the risk of deportation, officials said Thursday, conceding that so far few have managed to qualify.
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| Russian troops 'directly involved' in Ukraine conflict Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:42 PM PDT  Ukraine and the West said Thursday that Russian troops were actively involved in the fighting tearing apart the east of the country, raising fears of a direct military confrontation between Kiev and its former Soviet master. President Barack Obama led a chorus of international condemnation over the escalating crisis, saying it was "plain for the world to see" that Russian forces were fighting in Ukraine. Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Russia's actions "cannot remain without consequences" as the US and Europe raised the prospect of fresh sanctions against Moscow.
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| A flavor out of favor: Dog meat fades in S. Korea Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:35 PM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For more than 30 years, chef and restaurant owner Oh Keum-il built her expertise in cooking one traditional South Korean delicacy: dog meat.
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| Gaza children left orphaned by bloody war Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:30 PM PDT  Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - "She will call me Daddy and Mummy," insisted 11-year-old Amir Hamad, cradling his infant sister in his arms after the Gaza war left him and his four siblings orphans. Fifty days of bloody fighting in and around the wartorn Gaza Strip has cost the lives of nearly 500 children, but it has also turned hundreds more into orphans, who face a future deprived of their parents' love. "I would rather be dead than without my mother and father," Amir told AFP, saying he would never forget that fateful moment on the second day of the war when they were killed. "My parents were drinking their coffee in the evening after breaking the (Ramadan) fast, when a bomb fell onto our home," he said, recalling how an Israeli air strike hit their home in northern Gaza.
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| David Rushida finishes 3rd in 800m at Weltklasse Posted: 28 Aug 2014 03:28 PM PDT  ZURICH (AP) — World record holder and Olympic gold medalist David Rushida could only finish third in the 800 meters at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich, behind Botswana's Nijel Amos and Ayanleh Souleiman of Djibouti.
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