| Islamic State attacks Syrian army and Kurds in twin assault Posted: 25 Jun 2015 11:27 AM PDT  By Tom Perry and Sylvia Westall BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters have launched simultaneous attacks against Syrian government and Kurdish militia forces, moving back onto the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces near the capital of their "caliphate." Islamic State sought to retake the initiative with incursions into the Kurdish-held town of Kobani at the Turkish border and government-held areas of Hasaka city in the northeast. In a separate offensive in the multi-sided Syrian civil war, an alliance of rebels in the south of the country also launched an attack with the aim of driving government forces from the city of Deraa. The attacks by Islamic State follow a rapid advance by Kurdish-led forces deep into the hardline group's territory, to within 50 km (30 miles) of its de facto capital Raqqa.
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| Russia 'playing with fire' with nuclear saber-rattling: Pentagon Posted: 25 Jun 2015 01:04 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia is "playing with fire" with its nuclear saber-rattling and the United States is determined to prevent it from gaining a significant military advantage through violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, the deputy U.S. defense chief said on Thursday. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, speaking to lawmakers in the House of Representatives, also said modernizing and maintaining U.S. nuclear forces in the coming years would consume up to 7 percent of the defense budget, up from the current 3 to 4 percent, and could squeeze other programs unless additional funding was approved. Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee, Work said Moscow's effort to use its nuclear forces to intimidate its neighbors had failed, actually bringing NATO allies closer.
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| Obama, Putin discuss Iran, Islamic State, Ukraine in phone call Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:31 PM PDT  Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, their first call since February, to discuss Iran nuclear talks, "the increasingly dangerous situation in Syria" and the need to counter Islamic State militants, the White House said in a statement. "The leaders discussed the increasingly dangerous situation in Syria, and underscored the importance of continued P5+1 unity in ongoing negotiations to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," the White House said.
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| U.S. lawmakers lay down 'red lines' on Iran nuclear deal Posted: 25 Jun 2015 11:07 AM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As talks on an Iran nuclear deal enter the final stretch, U.S. lawmakers are sharpening warnings against a "weak" agreement and laying down red lines that, if crossed, could prompt Congress to trip up a carefully crafted international pact. Several influential lawmakers said they do not want to see any sanctions lifted before Tehran begins complying with a deal, and want a tough verification regime, in which inspectors could visit Iranian facilities anytime and anywhere.
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| Putin not done in eastern Ukraine, NATO's top general says Posted: 25 Jun 2015 09:38 AM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin is not done in eastern Ukraine, NATO's top commander said on Thursday, cautioning that Russia has been building up supplies on its border with Ukraine and keeping its military options open. U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander, said the border between Ukraine and Russia was "wide open," allowing free movement of equipment and supplies. Force levels on Russia's side of the border had not changed much in recent months, Breedlove said, but U.S. military officials had observed in Russia a "stocking of important supplies, ammunition, etc, to levels that would support operations".
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| Italy rebukes EU leaders as 'time wasters' on migrants plan Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:53 PM PDT  By Robin Emmott and Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi rebuked fellow EU leaders on Thursday for failing to agree a plan to take in 40,000 asylum-seekers from Italy and Greece, saying they were not worthy of calling themselves Europeans. EU leaders are divided over a growing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and have largely left Italy and Greece to handle thousands of people fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. "If you do not agree with the figure of 40,000 (asylum seekers) you do not deserve to call yourself Europeans," Renzi told an EU summit in Brussels.
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| Italy in emotional plea for EU help on migrants Posted: 25 Jun 2015 05:05 PM PDT  BRUSSELS (AP) — Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi clashed Thursday with European Union leaders reluctant to help ease pressure on Italy and Greece by taking in thousands of refugees arriving in the two countries.
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| Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 25 Jun 2015 05:02 PM PDT SUSAN-RI, North Korea (AP) — June is something like Hate America Month in North Korea. Officially, it's called "Struggle Against U.S. Imperialism Month" and — more so than usual — it's a time for North Koreans to swarm to war museums, mobilize for gatherings denouncing the evils of the United States and join in a general, nationwide whipping up of anti-American sentiment. |
| U.S. intelligence chief: China top suspect in government agency hacks Posted: 25 Jun 2015 05:00 PM PDT  U.S. intelligence chief James Clapper said on Thursday that China was the top suspect in the massive hacking of a U.S. government agency that compromised the personnel records of millions of Americans. The comments from Clapper, the director of National Intelligence (DNI), were first reported in The Wall Street Journal and marked the first time the Obama administration has publicly accused Beijing of the hacking attacks on the Office of Personnel Management. "You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did," given the difficulty of the intrusion, the Journal quoted Clapper as saying at a Washington intelligence conference.
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| Erdogan denies IS launched attack on Syria's Kobane from Turkey Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:41 PM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday dismissed as "propaganda" accusations that Islamic State fighters had been allowed to cross from Turkey into Syria to launch a fresh assault on the symbolic battleground town of Kobane. "We condemn the heinous attack by the terrorist IS organisation that targeted innocent civilians in the city of Kobane," Erdogan said in a speech. Dozens of civilians and fighters on both sides were killed when the IS jihadists made a surprise return to Kobane on Thursday, detonating a suicide car bomb near the border and battling Kurdish fighters in the city.
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| Bubba Watson shoots 62 to take Travelers Championship lead Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:38 PM PDT  CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Bubba Watson hit to inches on the final hole for the last his nine birdies in an 8-under 62 on Thursday in the first round of the Travelers Championship.
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| US Syria aid tops $4 billion with fresh pledges Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:38 PM PDT  The United States will provide $360 million in "life-saving assistance" to victims of the Syrian civil war, the State Department said Thursday, bringing its total to $4 billion since the fighting began. The money will partly support various United Nations programs and other non-governmental organizations in Syria, where more than 230,000 people have died since the conflict erupted with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011. "The new funding will partially respond to the 2015 appeals of $8.4 billion from the United Nations for Syria and the region.
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| Deforestation freeze unlikely in U.S.-Brazil climate declaration Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:37 PM PDT By Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A target date for Brazil to reach zero net deforestation, something climate activists have been asking for, is not expected to be a part of a U.S.-Brazilian joint climate declaration to be issued next week when President Dilma Rousseff visits Barack Obama in Washington, climate specialists say. The specialists are, however, hoping the two countries will at least announce plans for a bold cooperation to tackle the main causes of deforestation in Brazil, home to the world's largest tropical forest. Brazil and the United States plan to issue a joint declaration expressing both countries' commitment to the success of the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris later this year. |
| California wildfires force residents from homes in two towns Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:32 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Residents of two California towns were given mandatory evacuation orders on Thursday as a burgeoning wildfire swept through drought-parched mountains and aircraft battling the blaze could not take off after a drone was spotted in the area, officials said. The fire in the mountains of San Bernardino County east of Los Angeles was among scores of wildfires raging along the U.S. West Coast, from Alaska through California, in areas hit by drought and suffering record-low snowpack. The northern end of the Sacramento Valley in California was also unusually hot with 111 degrees Fahrenheit (43.9 Celsius) reported in Redding Thursday afternoon.
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| Iraqi pilot flew military plane that crashed in US Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:17 PM PDT  DOUGLAS, Arizona (AP) — An Iraqi pilot who has been training in the United States for four years crashed in southern Arizona while flying an F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, a spokesman for the Iraqi defense minister said Thursday.
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| Univision dropping Miss USA pageant over Trump comments Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:13 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — A Univision network is dropping the Miss USA pageant and the company says it will cut all business ties with Donald Trump in a spiraling controversy over comments the Republican presidential candidate made recently about Mexican immigrants.
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| Haiti: Dominican deportations causing 'humanitarian crisis' Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:11 PM PDT PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti's prime minister warned Thursday that the Dominican Republic is creating a humanitarian crisis with its crackdown on migrants, noting that 14,000 people have crossed the border into Haiti in less than a week. |
| US faces offensive challenge in defense-minded China Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:10 PM PDT  OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The last time the United States played China in the Women's World Cup was in the 1999 final at the Rose Bowl, when the Americans won on penalty kicks for their second title and Brandi Chastain famously ripped off her jersey.
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| Italy's Renzi slams EU leaders over migrant quotas Posted: 25 Jun 2015 04:06 PM PDT  Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi launched a furious broadside at fellow EU leaders Thursday for failing to help deal with a tide of Mediterranean migrants, sources said. "If that's your idea of Europe, you can keep it," Renzi told his 27 counterparts at a European Union summit in Brussels, Italian sources told AFP. Renzi lashed out after the EU leaders at the summit failed to reach a consensus on mandatory quotas for migrants who land in frontline states like Italy, Greece and Malta.
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| Brazilian confederation wants probe into 2013 match-fixing Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:59 PM PDT SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian football officials have asked CONMEBOL to probe match-fixing allegations in a 2013 Copa Libertadores game between Brazil's Corinthians and Argentina's Boca Juniors. |
| US State Dept.: 15 emails missing from Clinton cache Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:58 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. State Department has been unable to find in its records all or part of 15 work-related emails from Hillary Rodham Clinton's private server that were released this week by a House of Representatives panel investigating the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, officials said Thursday. |
| White House: Putin calls Obama, discuss Ukraine, IS, Iran Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:57 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says Russian President Vladimir Putin called President Barack Obama and discussed continued tensions in eastern Ukraine and the fight against the Islamic State in the Middle East. |
| Eyeing jazz empire, Blue Note club expands to China Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:56 PM PDT  Blue Note, one of the world's best-known jazz clubs, announced an expansion Thursday to China as it banks on a growing appetite for live performances among moneyed consumers. The club, based in New York's Greenwich Village, said it would open a Blue Note Beijing in the Chinese capital in March, and within three years spread to Shanghai and Taiwan's capital Taipei. The move comes as Western musicians from veteran pop stars to classical orchestras look to expand their footprint in China, eyeing future growth in the maturing economy of 1.3 billion people.
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| Los Angeles transportation agency to cut water use by 20 percent Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:36 PM PDT  By Phoenix Tso LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles County transportation agency, facing a catastrophic drought that has led the state to issue its first ever mandatory cutbacks in urban water use, has decided to reduce its water consumption by 20 percent by 2017. The motion, which passed the Metropolitan Transportation Agency Board of Directors by a unanimous vote on Thursday, would limit landscape irrigation to two days a week and would remove or limit ornamental turf at MTA facilities. The measures also require a public database be put in place by October 2015 to disclose water use at all MTA facilities, partly by installing water meters.
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| McDavid's NHL draft moment _ going No. 1 _ finally is here Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:35 PM PDT SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — For Connor McDavid, this is only the beginning. |
| Germany, France to meet in women's World Cup quarterfinals Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:23 PM PDT  MONTREAL (AP) — France coach Philippe Bergeroo has had six months to worry about meeting top-ranked Germany in the quarterfinals of the women's World Cup, and four days to prepare for the actual match.
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| Top Argentine appeals court confirms bribery case against VP Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:15 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's highest criminal court has rejected attempts by the country's vice president to throw out a bribery case against him. |
| Man drowns as floods hit Russian Olympic city of Sochi Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:12 PM PDT  A man drowned on Thursday when severe flooding hit the Russian resort of Sochi which hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics, destroying homes and cutting off transport links. The body of a man in his forties who appeared to have drowned was found in Adler, on the outskirts of Sochi, authorities said. "The Kherota river overflowed its banks, the train station was flooded and train services had to be suspended," Sochi's mayor Anatoly Pakhomov said.
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| Gambian leader accused of pricing rivals out of polls Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:08 PM PDT  Pro-democracy activists have accused Gambian leader Yahya Jammeh of trying to price potential opponents out of the market through astronomical rises in registration fees for presidential elections. "The proposed amendments are retrogressive and are designed to scuttle the growth of multiparty democracy in the Gambia," said Ousainou Darboe, secretary general of the main opposition United Democratic Party. Gambia, mainland Africa's smallest country with a population of about 1.7 million, has been ruled with an iron fist by Jammeh since he came to power in a bloodless coup in 1994.
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| Spain PM names new education minister as election ripples linger Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:04 PM PDT  Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy named a new education minister to replace the unpopular incumbent on Thursday after the ruling party suffered heavy losses in regional and local elections one month ago. Rajoy, whose conservative leadership is under fire ahead of a general election, had flagged changes in the cabinet for weeks but it had become unclear whether those changes would materialize. Last week he announced a series of secondary changes to the ruling People's Party (PP), of which he is also leader, naming his chief of staff, Jorge Moragas, as campaign manager.
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| Avalanche acquire forward Carl Soderberg from Bruins Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:04 PM PDT DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche acquired Swedish forward Carl Soderberg from the Boston Bruins on Thursday for a sixth-round pick in 2016. |
| Loan deal signed to build solar energy facility in Jamaica Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:03 PM PDT KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — The U.S. government's development finance institution has signed an agreement with a solar energy company to support a 20-megawatt photovoltaic facility in Jamaica. |
| Mother, baby rescued 4 days after Colombia plane crash Posted: 25 Jun 2015 03:02 PM PDT  BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian woman who survived a plane crash with her months-old baby, drinking coconut water to stay alive, was rescued after four days lost in the jungle.
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| Politician sentenced in killing of Colombian journalist Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:57 PM PDT BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A Colombian court has sentenced a state legislator to 36 years and three months in prison as the mastermind behind the killing of a well-known journalist. |
| Key countries call for tribunal for Malaysia Airlines crash Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:56 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The five countries investigating last year's shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines plane over Ukraine are calling for an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible. |
| Amid new engagements, US calls Cuba, Iran rights abusers Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:46 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Thursday tagged Iran and Cuba as serial human rights abusers even as it accelerates attempts to improve relations with both countries.
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| French anti-Uber protests turn violent Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:43 PM PDT Protests against ride-booking app Uber turned violent in France on Thursday as taxi drivers set fire to vehicles and blocked major roads. American rocker Courtney Love was caught up in the demonstrations when a vehicle she was travelling in outside Paris was attacked. Around 3,000 cabbies took part in the strike, blocking access to the capital's Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, and preventing cars reaching train stations around the country. |
| Panama president urges nation to accept Noriega apology Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:41 PM PDT  Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela urged the nation Thursday to forgive jailed former dictator Manuel Noriega after he apologized to victims of his 1983-1989 regime. Noriega said Wednesday in a statement read out on national television that he was sorry for the atrocities committed during his rule, when more than 100 of his opponents were murdered or disappeared, according to Panama's truth commission. "I apologize to anyone who feels offended, affected, harmed or humiliated by my actions or those of my superiors in carrying out orders or those of my subordinates during the time of my civilian and military government," said Noriega, who was ousted in a US invasion.
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| British court grants Rwandan spy chief bail Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:39 PM PDT  A British court on Thursday granted bail to Rwandan intelligence chief Karenzi Karake after President Paul Kagame slammed his arrest as "absolute arrogance". Karake, who was arrested last week at London Heathrow Airport on a Spanish-issued warrant, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in the British capital wearing a yellow and green jumpsuit. "I am prepared to grant you conditional bail," he said, setting the bail amount at £1.0 million ($1.6 million, 1.4 million euros) and ordering Karake to report to the police daily.
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| Burundi vice president flees as crisis escalates ahead of election Posted: 25 Jun 2015 02:28 PM PDT  Burundian students sought refuge from the police at the US embassy Thursday as one of the country's vice presidents announced he had fled to Belgium, escalating a political crisis in the central African nation days before key elections. Ignoring armed US Marines watching from the roof of the mission in the capital Bujumbura, around 200 students climbed under the gate and over the wall, then sat down inside the compound with their hands raised. Bujumbura has been in turmoil since late April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza launched a controversial bid for a third consecutive term, triggering widespread protests and a failed coup attempt.
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