| Suicide bomber kills 21 at Saudi Shi'ite mosque, Islamic State claims attack Posted: 22 May 2015 10:49 AM PDT  By Sami Aboudi DUBAI (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 21 worshippers on Friday in a packed Shi'ite mosque in eastern Saudi Arabia, residents and the health minister said, the first attack in the kingdom to be claimed by Islamic State militants. More than 90 people were wounded, the Saudi health minister told state television. Islamic State said in a statement that one of its suicide bombers, identified as Abu 'Ammar al-Najdi, carried out the attack using an explosives-laden belt that killed or wounded 250 people, U.S.-based monitoring group SITE said on its Twitter account.
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| China says U.S. South China Sea actions 'irresponsible, dangerous' Posted: 22 May 2015 02:38 PM PDT  By Sui-Lee Wee and David Brunnstrom BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China said on Friday it was "strongly dissatisfied" after a U.S. spy plane flew over part of the South China Sea this week near where China is building artificial islands, and called on the United States to stop such action or risk causing an accident. The U.S. flight on Wednesday was highlighted by the unusual Pentagon decision to invite a CNN team aboard the Poseidon surveillance plane.
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| U.S., Cuba make progress on restoring ties but no deal yet Posted: 22 May 2015 12:05 PM PDT  By Daniel Trotta WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Cuba and the United States reported making progress toward restoring diplomatic relations following two days of talks and pledged on Friday to continue informal negotiations in the coming weeks. The chief U.S. negotiator said the two sides may not need another formal round of talks to reach agreement, indicating major differences had been resolved. If the former Cold War rivals ultimately reach a deal to end more than half a century of estrangement, it would fulfill a pledge they made five months ago when U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced detente.
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| U.N. investigates reports of executions, abuses in Mali Posted: 22 May 2015 04:32 PM PDT  By Souleymane Ag Anara and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it was investigating reports of serious human rights abuses, including the execution of civilians, in northern Mali following clashes this week between northern Tuareg separatist rebels and pro-government militia. U.N.-brokered peace efforts in Mali's north are in danger of unraveling because of repeated violations of a ceasefire between the Tuareg-led Coordination of Movements of Azawad (CMA) and the pro-government factions around the flashpoint northern town of Menaka. The U.N. mission in Mali said on Friday it had sent a team of investigators to verify reports of serious abuses and the execution of civilians, possibly including an aid worker in Tin-Hamma, in Gao region.
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| Dispute over Mideast nuclear arms ban set to torpedo U.N. meeting Posted: 22 May 2015 03:51 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A month-long review conference on the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty appeared headed for failure on Friday after its members were unable to overcome disagreements on an atomic weapons ban for the Middle East and other issues. U.S. Under Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller announced there was "no agreement" and accused some countries of undermining the negotiations. Gottemoeller did not name any countries but diplomats said she was referring to Egypt.
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| Gunfight in western Mexico kills at least 42: officials Posted: 22 May 2015 02:46 PM PDT At least 42 people were killed on Friday in western Mexico in a gunfight between suspected gang members and security forces, two government officials said, the latest bloodshed in an area that has been plagued by violent drug gangs. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at least two federal police died in the morning clash near Tanhuato in the state of Michoacan, near the border with Jalisco, a region home to Mexico's second-biggest city, Guadalajara. The vast majority of those killed in the fight were suspected gang members, the officials said. |
| Washington mansion murder suspect 'did not act alone' Posted: 22 May 2015 04:48 PM PDT  The prime suspect in a grisly killing of a wealthy Washington family-of-three and their maid did not act alone, prosecutors said Friday, as he was formally charged with first-degree murder. Daron Dylon Wint, 34, was arrested Thursday following a massive manhunt after police found his DNA on a pizza crust in the family mansion where the four bodies, including that of a 10-year-old boy, were discovered bound and bludgeoned.
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| Rodgers pleads with Liverpool fans to lay off Sterling Posted: 22 May 2015 04:48 PM PDT  Stoke-on-Trent (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Brendan Rodgers has urged Liverpool supporters not to abuse Raheem Sterling at Stoke on Sunday as the Reds boss slammed the player's agent for a tumultuous week of speculation about his future. Sterling has come under fire over the past seven days after his agent Aidy Ward claimed the unsettled England international would not sign a new contract at Anfield irrespective of the amount of money Liverpool offer him. The 20-year-old was booed at Liverpool's Player of the Year awards dinner earlier in the week, and there are concerns he will receive another hostile reception from Reds fans in the Premier League finale at Britannia Stadium.
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| Shell CEO backs fossil fuels, climate change warnings: Guardian Posted: 22 May 2015 04:42 PM PDT  (Reuters) - The world's fossil fuel reserves cannot be burned unless some way is found to capture their carbon emissions, Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said on Friday. In an interview published in Britain's Guardian newspaper, Van Beurden forecast that global energy use would produce "zero carbon" by the end of the century, and that his group would get a "very large segment" of its earnings from renewable power. The interview came a day after Van Beurden slammed as a "red herring" calls to divest from energy companies as part of the fight against climate change, in particular the "Keep it in the Ground" campaign led by the Guardian.
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| Togo government resigns as president begins third term Posted: 22 May 2015 04:37 PM PDT  Togo's Prime Minister Kwesi Seleagodji Ahoomey-Zunu and his government resigned on Friday, an expected move after elections last month that saw President Faure Gnassingbe extend his family's nearly five-decade grip on power. The president thanked the prime minister and his government for their service, noting that their resignations at the start of a new term were in line with "republican practice", a statement read on national television said. Togo's main opposition, Combat for Political Change (CAP 2015), dismissed Gnassingbe's election win as fraudulent, but international observers broadly praised the polls as free and fair.
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| California water officials approve voluntary cutbacks by growers Posted: 22 May 2015 04:36 PM PDT By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California water regulators on Friday approved a plan by some of the state's most senior water rights holders to voluntarily cut water use by 25 percent in exchange for assurances that they would not face further curtailments during the growing season. Under the first-of-its-kind agreement, so-called riparian growers in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta who participate in the program have agreed to either reduce water diversions by 25 percent or fallow one-quarter of their land, said Felicia Marcus, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board. Riparian land borders natural waterways such as rivers or streams and the roughly 4,000 growers with such farmland in the delta hold some of California's priority or most senior, and typically inalienable, water rights. |
| Cartel operated surveillance cameras in Mexican city Posted: 22 May 2015 04:29 PM PDT  A drug cartel installed 39 surveillance cameras in a Mexican city bordering the United States to monitor the movements of residents and security forces, authorities said Friday. It underlines the pervasiveness of Mexico's powerful drug cartels, who have eyes and ears in towns and cities across the country thanks to human "halcones," or hawks, who act as lookouts and relay information to the gangs. State police and soldiers removed the cameras on Monday and Tuesday, two days before President Enrique Pena Nieto visited the city, which lies across from McAllen, Texas.
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| Proliferation talks at risk over Mideast nuke plan Posted: 22 May 2015 04:24 PM PDT  Nuclear non-proliferation talks were on the brink of failure on Friday after the United States and its allies opposed holding a conference on creating a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. More than 150 countries have taken part in a month-long conference reviewing the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and technology. Israel, which is not a member of the NPT but is attending the conference as an observer, opposed the proposal backed by Egypt and Arab countries.
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| Intelligence Agency: opening up to a changing world Posted: 22 May 2015 04:14 PM PDT By Andrea Shalal SPRINGFIELD, Va. (Reuters) - Much about the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency remains classified, but the U.S. spy agency that maps and analyzes the earth is opening up more than ever, from sharing computer source code on a public website to tapping new sources of intelligence. The NGA's director, Robert Cardillo, is leading what he calls a "seismic shift" in the agency's culture to help it better exploit social media, commercially available imagery and other data to continue providing high-level intelligence to the U.S. government. The NGA this week opened its doors to GitHub, the world's largest site for sharing source code, to advance another goal - to encourage its employees to share analytical tools and other computer programs and get feedback from other developers. |
| High turnout seen favoring Yes in Irish gay marriage vote Posted: 22 May 2015 03:49 PM PDT  By Padraic Halpin and Conor Humphries DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish voters turned out in droves to cast ballots in a gay marriage referendum on Friday, with the high turnout likely to favor the Yes side seeking equality just two decades after the country decriminalized homosexuality. With the once mighty Catholic Church's influence ravaged by child abuse scandals, opinion polls indicated the proposal would pass by as much as two-to-one, making Ireland the first country to adopt same-sex marriage via a popular vote. Irish national broadcaster RTE said it appeared to have been one of the highest ever turnouts for a referendum in the country, with turnout likely to reach 60 percent in Dublin.
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| Magnitude 6.8 quake strikes off Solomon Islands: USGS Posted: 22 May 2015 03:39 PM PDT (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck close to the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean, just days after the archipelago was hit by another strong earthquake, the U.S. Geological Survey said on Friday. Its epicenter was located 139 miles (224 km) east of Kira Kira at a depth of just 23 miles (37 km) below the seabed. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake had not triggered a tsunami. |
| Ireland turns out for historic vote on gay marriage Posted: 22 May 2015 03:35 PM PDT  Irish voters turned out in force Friday for a historic referendum on whether same-sex marriage should become legal, after a campaign that has exposed divisions in the traditionally Catholic nation. After 15 hours of voting, the ballot boxes were sealed at 10:00pm (2100 GMT) across the republic, with polling stations reporting higher-than-expected voter numbers. State broadcaster RTE said polling stations were recording a higher turnout than usual for referendums, with voting levels in cities such as Dublin, Limerick and Waterford predicted to top 60 percent.
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| Gunfight kills 43 in troubled Mexican state Posted: 22 May 2015 03:16 PM PDT  At least 42 "suspected criminals" were killed Friday in a gunfight with federal police in a western Mexico region hit by cartel violence, one of the bloodiest clashes in the country's drug war. One police officer also died in the shootout with armed civilians in the municipality of Tanhuato, in Michoacan state, near the border with Jalisco state, a federal government official told AFP. The official said the dead included "42 suspected criminals and one federal police officer." Authorities had earlier reported the deaths of two officers.
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| Colombia's FARC rebels suspend ceasefire over air strike Posted: 22 May 2015 03:04 PM PDT  Peace talks to end Colombia's five-decade conflict were plunged into fresh crisis Friday after FARC guerrillas suspended their unilateral ceasefire in response to a government air strike that killed 26 rebels. The December ceasefire announcement by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had raised hopes that the two-year-old peace negotiations were approaching a breakthrough. On April 15, the day after the ambush, a furious President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the military to resume air strikes against the leftist FARC, which he had suspended on March 11 in recognition of their ceasefire.
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| IS suicide bomber attacks Saudi Shiite mosque, killing 21 Posted: 22 May 2015 02:47 PM PDT  An Islamic State group suicide bomber attacked a Shiite mosque in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia on Friday, killing 21 people and wounding 81 in an assault that threatens to fan sectarian tensions. The bomber struck during the main weekly prayers in Eastern Province, where assailants linked to the Sunni extremist IS killed seven members of the minority Shiite community in November. The interior ministry said a suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the mosque in Kudeih, in the Shiite-majority city of Qatif, the official SPA news agency reported.
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| Pipeline spill could further hamper big California oil projects Posted: 22 May 2015 02:41 PM PDT By Kristen Hays HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of barrels of oil that gushed from a ruptured coastal pipeline in scenic California this week could stiffen opposition to large oil projects that companies want to build in the state, notably those to deliver cheap U.S. crude on trains. Several proposed oil-by-rail offloading terminals in California were already being contested in light of several fiery crude train derailments since 2013 that have stoked safety concerns about spills and explosions. Now, the sight of oil washing up on the shores of Santa Barbara could further galvanize rail opponents after up to 2,500 barrels of crude leaked on Tuesday from a pipeline owned by Plains All American Pipeline LP. |
| New York attorney general fights group's 'radical' bid to free chimps Posted: 22 May 2015 02:26 PM PDT An animal rights group's "radical attempt" in various lawsuits in New York state to extend legal rights to chimpanzees could undermine ownership of pets and farm animals, the New York attorney general's office said on Friday. The Nonhuman Rights Project, founded by attorney and animal rights activist Steven Wise, has sued Stony Brook University over two chimps it owns, Hercules and Leo, which are used in anatomical research on primates. |
| Egyptian soldier killed in Sinai attack claimed by IS affiliate Posted: 22 May 2015 02:25 PM PDT  Militants killed an Egyptian soldier Friday after abducting him from an ambulance in an ambush in the Sinai Peninsula, security officials said, in an attack claimed by the affiliate of the Islamic State group. The jihadist Sinai Province -- formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis -- and which has pledged allegiance to the IS organisation, is spearheading an Islamist insurgency against security forces on the peninsula since the army ousted president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. Militants attacked an ambulance carrying a wounded soldier south of the town of Sheikh Zuweid in North Sinai, a hotbed of insurgents, and abducted him, security officials said.
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| Greenaway to shoot Russia film backed by sanction-hit Putin ally Posted: 22 May 2015 02:08 PM PDT  British director Peter Greenaway is to direct a film about Russia backed by a billionaire businessman and ally of President Vladimir Putin who has come under US sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The movie with the working title "Volga" will "look at the past and future of Russia, a country on the border between Europe and Asia," a foundation headed by billionaire businessman Gennady Timchenko said in a statement Friday. A representative of the Timchenko Foundation, Anna Kobzeva, told AFP that Greenaway is "working on the screenplay" of the film, to be produced by Frenchman Pierre-Christian Brochet, a collector of Russian art.
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| Ivory Coast opposition picks presidential candidate Posted: 22 May 2015 02:00 PM PDT  Ivory Coast's main opposition, the Ivorian Popular Front of ex-president Laurent Gbagbo, on Friday chose party chief Pascal Affi N'Guessan as its candidate in presidential elections in October. N'Guessan, who won a standing ovation for several minutes, will be up against President Alassane Ouattara in the vote. "My first duty is to continue the fight for Laurent Gbagbo to find freedom" but "also to give hope to Ivory Coast," N'Guessan said, visibly moved.
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| Polish presidential run-off a razor-edge race Posted: 22 May 2015 01:57 PM PDT  Poland's presidential run-off on Sunday, pitting liberal incumbent Bronislaw Komorowski against conservative populist challenger Andrzej Duda, is on a knife-edge with opinion polls and analysts unable to call it. Sunday's outcome is also seen as a harbinger of things to come in an autumn general election ahead of which the governing centrist Civic Platform (PO) -- closely associated with Komorowski -- is running neck and neck with Duda's conservative opposition Law and Justice Party. The 62-year-old Komorowski, a communist-era dissident who has been president since 2010 was stunned by his narrow May 10 first-round loss to Duda.
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| Ukraine court orders arrest of two 'Russian soldiers' Posted: 22 May 2015 01:38 PM PDT  A Kiev court on Friday ordered two suspected Russian soldiers who were captured by Ukrainian troops in the separatist east to be placed in pre-trial detention until July 19. Ukraine has charged Captain Yevgeny Yerofeyev and Sergeant Aleksander Aleksandrov with involvement in "terrorist activity" and promised to release them should they fully confess during a "public" trial. Kiev is trying to use the men's detention to prove its longstanding belief that the Kremlin was covertly supporting the rebels with high-tech weapons and troops in order to unsettle Ukraine's pro-Western government.
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| Ebola-free Liberia can stage internationals Posted: 22 May 2015 01:34 PM PDT  Johannesburg (AFP) - Liberia can stage international matches again after being declared free of the Ebola virus, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced Friday.
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| Amnesty says torture of Ukraine war prisoners is rife Posted: 22 May 2015 01:24 PM PDT  KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Both warring sides in eastern Ukraine are perpetrating war crimes almost daily, including torturing prisoners and summarily killing them, the Amnesty International rights group said in a report Friday.
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| Turkey arrests 43 in new sweep against Erdogan foes Posted: 22 May 2015 01:22 PM PDT  Turkey on Friday arrested 43 people in the central city of Konya in new raids against suspected supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch foe, the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, reports said. The detentions, which come just two weeks ahead of legislative elections on June 7, are just the latest against supporters of Gulen who are accused of trying to form a "parallel state" in a bid to oust Erdogan from power. Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan, has built up considerable influence over the last years in the judiciary and police, as well as through interests in the education and financial sectors.
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| IS cements grip on Iraq-Syria border in jihadist surge Posted: 22 May 2015 01:16 PM PDT  A suicide bomber from the extremist Sunni IS also attacked a Shiite mosque in Saudi Arabia, raising sectarian tensions in the region. The jihadists, who now control roughly half of Syria, reinforced their self-declared transfrontier "caliphate" by seizing Syria's Al-Tanaf crossing on the Damascus-Baghdad highway late Thursday. It was the last regime-held border crossing with Iraq.
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| In Wilde's shadow, shyness and pride in Irish gay marriage vote Posted: 22 May 2015 01:14 PM PDT  While many voters in Ireland's referendum on introducing same-sex marriage were strolling around Dublin wearing "Yes" badges Friday, many "No" voters were keeping it to themselves. On the corner of plush Merrion Square, outside the childhood home of 19th-century writer Oscar Wilde, there were two placards on the nearest lamp-post, one reading "Vote Yes" and the other "Equality for everybody". At Dublin Port, around 30 Irish emigrants sailed over from Britain to vote "Yes", arriving in home-made t-shirts, cheering and waving balloons and banners.
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| Rallies after student threatened over Charlie Hebdo tribute Posted: 22 May 2015 01:08 PM PDT  Saint-Maur-des-Fosses (France) (AFP) - Teachers and students at a French school rallied Thursday in support of a pupil who received death threats for publishing an edition of the school newspaper in support of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Education authorities said that the school's security would be strengthened, saying "the internal vigilance will be reinforced", and that the high schooler will have special police protection "if needed". Two of the attackers stormed the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo killing 12 people, including journalists and police officers, and sparking a global outpouring in support of free speech.
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| Ukraine truce talks make no breakthrough in Minsk Posted: 22 May 2015 01:03 PM PDT  A top pro-Russian rebel said on Friday that a new round of Ukraine crisis talks had resulted in no breakthrough but would continue in the coming weeks. The chief negotiator of the self-declared Lugansk People's Republic said the European-mediated talks got stuck on the crucial issue of when and under what terms Ukraine's two renegade eastern provinces could conduct their own elections. "We discussed the elections but stumbled on many obstacles," Vladislav Deinego told reporters after the latest round of talks in the Belarussian capital Minsk.
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| UN accuses S.Sudan of targeting base as fighting intensifies Posted: 22 May 2015 12:57 PM PDT  South Sudanese government tanks backed by helicopter gunships have pushed back rebels from a key oil town, state television showed on Friday, as the UN accused both sides of targeting one of its bases sheltering civilians. The TV footage showed tanks firing as a helicopter gunship -- believed to belong to the Ugandan army which is fighting alongside government troops -- swooped over the burning town of Melut in the key northern oil state of Upper Nile. Senior UN peacekeeping official Edmond Mulet told reporters that 22 shells had hit the UN base in Melut over the past two days, killing eight civilians, in what could amount to a war crime.
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| Heavy Saudi-led airstrikes target Shiite rebels in Yemen Posted: 22 May 2015 12:46 PM PDT SANAA, Yemen (AP) — The Saudi-led coalition on Friday launched heavy airstrikes against Shiite rebels in Yemen, targeting camps and weapons depots in the rebel-held capital, as a U.N. agency said some 234 children were killed in violence over the past two months. |
| Moscow issues travel warning over U.S. 'hunt' for Russians Posted: 22 May 2015 12:40 PM PDT  Russia's foreign ministry has warned its citizens traveling abroad of the risks posed by U.S. law enforcement bodies and special services, which it said were hunting for Russians around the world. In a statement on Friday it also accused Washington of kidnapping Russians, citing cases such as that of Vladimir Drinkman, who was extradited to the United States from the Netherlands earlier this year. "By believing that it is allowed to do all it wants, Washington goes as far as kidnapping our citizens," the foreign ministry said.
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| McIlroy misses cut at BMW PGA Championship after shooting 78 Posted: 22 May 2015 12:38 PM PDT  VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — After winning two titles in three weeks, Rory McIlroy ran out of steam. Now he'll have the whole weekend to get some rest.
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