| Mexico says missing students likely burned to ashes by gang Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:45 PM PST  By Lizbeth Diaz MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Forty-three missing students abducted by corrupt police in southwest Mexico six weeks ago were apparently incinerated by drug gang henchmen and their remains tipped in a garbage dump and a river, the government said on Friday. Attorney General Jesus Murillo said three detainees, caught a week ago, admitted setting fire to a group of bodies in a dump near Iguala in the state of Guerrero, where the trainee teachers went missing on Sept. 26 after clashing with local police. ...
|
| Mediator says South Sudan rivals agree to end war Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:19 PM PST  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's warring parties committed to stop fighting and bring their months-long conflict to an end without conditions, the chief mediator for regional African group IGAD said on Saturday after two days of talks in the Ethiopian capital. Fighting erupted last December in South Sudan, which declared independence from Sudan in 2011, after months of political tension between President Salva Kiir and his sacked deputy, Riek Machar. ...
|
| U.N. sanctions Yemen's ex-President Saleh, two rebel leaders Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:39 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council imposed targeted sanctions on Friday on Yemen's former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and two senior Houthi rebel leaders for threatening the peace and stability of the country and obstructing the political process. Lithuanian U.N. Ambassador Raimonda Murmokaite, chair of the council's Yemen sanctions committee, said all 15 members had agreed to blacklist Saleh and Houthi rebel military leaders Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi and Abdullah Yahya al Hakim. The three men are now subject to a global travel ban and asset ...
|
| Peshmergas blunt, don't break, Islamic State siege of Syria's Kobani Posted: 07 Nov 2014 06:44 AM PST  By Omer Berberoglu and Rasha Elass MURSITPINAR Turkey/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdish forces have blunted but not broken the siege of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a week after arriving to great fanfare with heavy weapons and fighters in a bid to save it from Islamic State. Kobani has become a test of the U.S.-led coalition's ability to halt the advance of the Sunni Muslim insurgents. The town is one of few areas in Syria where it can co-ordinate air strikes with operations by an effective ground force. ...
|
| Ukraine accuses Russia of sending in tanks, escalating crisis Posted: 07 Nov 2014 07:22 AM PST  By Natalia Zinets and Vladimir Soldatkin KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's military accused Russia on Friday of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops into the country's east to support pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces. Thursday's cross-border incursion, if confirmed, is a significant escalation of a conflict that has killed more than 4,000 people since the separatists rose up in mid-April and would call into question Russia's commitment to a two-month-old ceasefire deal. ...
|
| Palestinians clash with Israeli troops again over holy site Posted: 07 Nov 2014 06:33 AM PST  By Luke Baker and Nidal al-Mughrabi JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian protesters fought with Israeli security forces in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank on Friday, the latest clashes in a fortnight of violence over access to Jerusalem's holiest site. At the Qalandia checkpoint separating Ramallah from Jerusalem, troops fired rubber bullets as several hundred protesters marched, some throwing rocks and petrol bombs. In East Jerusalem, police fired tear gas to disperse protesters hurling firecrackers and burning tires that sent up huge clouds of black smoke in Shoafat refugee camp. ...
|
| Mexico: Burned remains probably are 43 missing Posted: 07 Nov 2014 05:10 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Suspects in the disappearance of 43 college students have described a macabre and complicated mass murder and incineration of the victims carried out over an entire day and ending with their ashen remains being dumped into a river, Mexican authorities said Friday.
|
| Top Asian News at 1:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 07 Nov 2014 05:02 PM PST BEIJING (AP) — China and Japan reached agreement to ramp up high-level contacts, the strongest indication yet of a possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The Chinese and Japanese foreign ministries said Friday the two sides agreed to "gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues." China froze high-level contacts more than two years ago amid a dispute over uninhabited East China Sea islands and other contentious issues. |
| Yemen announces lineup of its new Cabinet Posted: 07 Nov 2014 05:02 PM PST  ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's state-run TV on Friday announced the lineup of the country's new Cabinet following a U.N.-brokered deal with Shiite rebels who had overrun the capital of Sanaa and plunged the country into another crisis.
|
| French jihadist describes role in Lebanon attack plan Posted: 07 Nov 2014 05:01 PM PST  A French jihadist has described in court documents his path from the suburbs of Paris to Lebanon's capital Beirut where he was planning an attack on Shiite Muslims. Fayez Yusef Bushran disclosed his journey in court documents seen by AFP on Friday. He is also charged with membership of the Islamic State group (IS) and preparing a suicide bomb attack. The documents said Bushran, 24, had been living in the southwestern Paris suburb of Trappes, and had studied with a cleric "who encouraged me to undertake jihad".
|
| Venezuela: Mastermind of lawmaker killing captured Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:53 PM PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan authorities say the purported leader of a Colombian paramilitary group who they allege masterminded the October slaying of socialist Venezuelan lawmaker Robert Serra has been captured. |
| Immigrant who hid in US church temporarily freed Posted: 07 Nov 2014 05:19 PM PST  PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) — A federal judge on Friday ordered the temporary release of an immigrant activist who took refuge at an Oregon church to avoid deportation and was arrested this week on federal charge of illegal re-entry.
|
| China and Japan agree to resume dialogue Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:21 PM PST  BEIJING (AP) — China and Japan reached agreement to ramp up high-level contacts, the strongest indication yet of a possible meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at next week's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
|
| UN orders sanctions on ex-Yemen leader, 2 rebels Posted: 07 Nov 2014 04:16 PM PST UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions on Yemen's former president and two leaders of the powerful Shiite Houthi rebels late Friday for threatening the peace, security and stability of the country. |
| 'Gang members' admit killing over 40 missing Mexico students Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:55 PM PST  Suspected gang members in Mexico confessed to killing more than 40 missing students and incinerating their remains in a grisly case that shocked the country and triggered angry protests, authorities said Friday. Authorities have been searching for 43 students since gang-linked police attacked their buses in the southern city of Iguala on September 26, allegedly under orders of the mayor and his wife in violence that left six people dead. "To the parents of the missing young men and society as a whole, I assure you that we won't stop until justice is served," Pena Nieto said. Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam warned that it would be difficult to identify the charred remains and that authorities will continue to consider the students as missing until DNA tests confirm the identities.
|
| Obama doubles US troops in Iraq in expanding war on IS Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:50 PM PST  President Barack Obama unveiled Friday plans to send 1,500 additional troops to Iraq to help Baghdad government forces strike back at Islamic State jihadists, roughly doubling the number of US soldiers in the country. The reinforcements were "part of our strategy for strengthening partners on the ground" but would have a "non-combat role," the White House said in a statement. The United States is already carrying out air strikes against the IS group in Iraq and Syria but officials insisted the decision did not signal "mission creep" towards another all-out ground war. The US forces will be carrying out the same mission that has been outlined from the start -- to help the Iraqi forces on the ground, backed up by coalition warplanes in the air, the official said.
|
| Obama to send 1,500 more troops to Iraq as campaign expands Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:44 PM PST  By Phil Stewart and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama has approved sending up to 1,500 more troops to Iraq, roughly doubling the number of U.S. forces on the ground to advise and retrain Iraqis in their battle against the militant group Islamic State, U.S. officials said on Friday. Obama's decision greatly expands the scope of the U.S. campaign and the geographic distribution of American forces, some of whom will head into Iraq's fiercely contested western Anbar province for the first time to act as advisors. ...
|
| Virgin Galactic could resume test flights in six months Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:41 PM PST  London (AFP) - Virgin Galactic could resume test flights with a new spaceship within six months, the company said Friday, a week after the fatal crash of SpaceShipTwo in the Californian desert.
|
| Plaque honoring British seamen removed in Colombia Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:34 PM PST CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) — A plaque honoring 18th century British seamen is gone just a week after it was inaugurated by Prince Charles. |
| Argentina tells NY judge new lawsuits seek $4.7B Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:19 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A lawyer for Argentina has told a Manhattan judge that his orders have caused bondholders to demand $4.7 billion since June, creating an "impossible situation" for the South American nation. |
| UN Security Council slaps sanctions on Yemen ex-president Saleh Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:09 PM PST  The UN Security Council on Friday imposed sanctions on Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and two allied rebel commanders for threatening peace in the impoverished Arab country. A US request to impose a visa ban and assets freeze on the deposed leader and the two commanders from the Shiite Huthi movement went into force at 2200 GMT, the Lithuanian chair of the committee said. Huthi military commanders Abd al-Khaliq al-Huthi and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim were targeted by the sanctions, but the top leader of the rebel movement, Abdulmalik al-Huthi, was not hit by the measures.
|
| AP Exclusive: Easing of Saudi driving ban possible Posted: 07 Nov 2014 03:06 PM PST  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — It's only for women over 30, who must be off the road by 8 p.m. and cannot wear makeup behind the wheel. But it's still a startling shift.
|
| U.S. urges Europe, Asia to do more for U.N. peacekeeping Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:58 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States is urging countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia to commit more to U.N. peacekeeping operations around the world as Washington considers where it might be able to do the same, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Friday. The United Nations has more than 110,000 soldiers and police in 16 peacekeeping operations around the world in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and in Haiti. While Western countries used to routinely offer peackeepers for blue-helmeted U.N. ...
|
| 'Dark Web' drug site challenge law enforcement Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:50 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — No sooner had authorities announced the shuttering of an alleged illegal online drug bazaar than another popped up claiming to take its place. |
| Human wave of East Germans surges across Berlin Wall Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:46 PM PST By Katerina Syrimi WEST BERLIN(Reuters) - (This story, written by former Reuters correspondent Katerina Syrimi in West Berlin on Nov 11, 1989, reported on the human wave of East Germans pouring into West Berlin after the opening of the Berlin Wall. It was opened 25 years ago on Sunday.) A human wave of East Germans, a quarter of a million strong according to an official estimate, swept through the Berlin Wall on Saturday to pack the pavements of West Berlin 20-deep with sightseers. Even three new crossing points created during the night could barely cope with the tide of humanity. ... |
| UN report says Iran nuke probe stalled Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:40 PM PST VIENNA (AP) — The U.N. nuclear agency said Friday that its attempts to probe allegations that Tehran worked on nuclear weapons were deadlocked — a finding that all but rules out hopes of full nuclear deal between six world powers and Iran by the Nov. 24 target date. |
| Don't cave in on climate policy, Senate leaders urge Obama Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:33 PM PST  By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four Senate leaders on Friday urged President Barack Obama not to retreat from promises of strong domestic carbon cutting goals and significant aid to developing countries to combat climate change given new Republican leadership in Congress, which is expected to be hostile to such policies. The Democratic chairs of four Senate committees - Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works, Finance and Budget - wrote to Obama, asking him to uphold promises he made at a high-profile UN climate summit in September. ...
|
| Mexico to try 7 soldiers in slaying of suspects Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:23 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican judge ordered seven soldiers to stand trial in the killing of suspected gang members after they were subdued, the latest chapter in the government's tardy recognition that executions occurred at a grain warehouse in southern Mexico on June 30.
|
| Force India to keep Perez for 2015 F1 season Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:19 PM PST  SAO PAULO (AP) — Force India says it will keep Mexican driver Sergio Perez for the 2015 Formula One season.
|
| Cordoba held 0-0 by 10-man Deportivo in Spain Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:17 PM PST CORDOBA, Spain (AP) — Cordoba squandered a great chance to finally end its 42-year wait for its first win in Spain's first division when it was held 0-0 at home by 10-man Deportivo La Coruna on Friday. |
| Hannover beats Hertha Berlin 2-0 in Bundesliga Posted: 07 Nov 2014 02:10 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Hiroshi Kiyotake scored one goal and set up another as Hannover beat Hertha Berlin 2-0 away to move into provisional fourth spot in the Bundesliga on Friday.
|
| Pressel takes 1-stroke lead at Mizuno Classic Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:56 PM PST SHIMA, Japan (AP) — Morgan Pressel shot a 5-under 67 on Friday in the Mizuno Classic to take a one-stroke lead over 51-year-old Laura Davies and Chella Choi. |
| Rennes beats Lorient 1-0 to move up to 7th spot Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:47 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Brazilian striker Pedro Henrique scored an 89th-minute winner as Rennes beat struggling Lorient 1-0 at home Friday, extending its unbeaten run to six games and moving provisionally up to seventh place in the French league. |
| Obama authorizes 1,500 more US troops for Iraq Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:46 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama authorized a broad expansion on Friday of the U.S. military mission in Iraq that will boost the total number of American troops there to about 3,100 and spread advisory teams and trainers to the north and west where fighting with Islamic State militants has been fierce.
|
| Funeral held for US soldier who died in Korean War Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:39 PM PST  INGLEWOOD, California (AP) — A U.S. soldier who died as a prisoner of war during the Korean War is finally being laid to rest.
|
| Canada to digitally track mental health of troops Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:35 PM PST  The Canadian military will soon start digitally tracking the mental health of its personnel with new software, the defense ministry said Friday, following a string of suicides this year. Defense medical staff will begin entering data on service members' mental health directly into electronic health records so that they can be accessed wherever a member of the military is serving. Dubbed "Mental Health Notes," the initiative is aimed at improving communication among clinicians and mental health professionals, while creating a data base that will enable the armed forces to "better understand the overall burden of mental illness," the ministry said. The defense ministry says mental health care of service members costs $40 million a year.
|
| Dow, S&P 500 eke out gains, set record highs Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:34 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — An encouraging report on hiring barely fazed the stock market Friday, leaving indexes with the slightest of gains. For investors, good is no longer good enough.
|
| Global law enforcement strikes deep into 'Dark Web' Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:24 PM PST  A global crackdown has shut down dozens of online "dark markets" selling illegal goods and services and masking their identities using the Tor encryption network, officials said Friday. The joint operation by US and European law enforcement arrested 17 people in a massive international operation against the underground bazaars. "It is a plain fact that criminals use advanced technology to commit their crimes and conceal evidence -- and they hide behind international borders so they can stymie law enforcement," said Assistant US Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. Investigators from the United States and 16 European countries launched a "joint action" against the markets Thursday, the Europol police agency said in a statement.
|
| Yemen gets new government aimed at solving crisis Posted: 07 Nov 2014 01:19 PM PST  Yemen on Friday announced a new 36-member government intended to take the impoverished country out of political crisis, the state news agency Saba said. The new government includes four women, one of whom takes the information and culture portfolio. On November 1, the main political parties signed a new agreement, sponsored by UN envoy to Yemen Jamal Benomar, for the formation of a government of technocrats. Under the accord, representatives of the rebels and their rivals, the Sunni Al-Islah (Reform) Islamic party, mandated President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi to form a government and committed to support it.
|
