| U.S. steps up diplomacy, rebel support to end Syrian 'hell': Kerry Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:18 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is intensifying its diplomacy to end the "hell" of Syria's civil war even as it increases support for moderate rebels fighting Islamic State militants, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday The chief U.S. diplomat leaves for Vienna later in the day for talks among more than a dozen foreign ministers on ending the four-and-a-half year conflict. Iran is for the first time taking part in such talks, which will also include Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
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| Greek coastguard rescues 242 migrants as boat sinks, three drown Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:04 PM PDT  The Greek coastguard rescued 242 migrants when their wooden boat sank north of the island of Lesbos on Wednesday, but at least three drowned, including two small boys, authorities said. More than 500,000 refugees and migrants have entered Greece through its outlying islands since January, transiting on to central and northern Europe in what has become the biggest humanitarian crisis on the continent in decades. "These praiseworthy attempts of the coastguard to save refugees at sea is at risk of now turning into a constant operation of locating and collecting drowned refugees," Greek shipping minister Thodoris Dritsas said.
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| U.N. investigator questions if Myanmar poll can be free and fair Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:52 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A United Nations rights investigator raised concern on Wednesday about whether Myanmar's election next month could be considered free and fair because dozens of candidates had been disqualified and hundreds of thousands of people denied the right to vote. Yanghee Lee, U.N. special rapporteur on rights in Myanmar, also said restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, including arrests and excessive use of force against protesters, put genuine elections at risk. "The credibility of the elections will be judged by the environment in which they are conducted and the extent to which all sectors of Myanmar society have been allowed to freely participate in the political process," Lee wrote in a report she presented to a U.N. General Assembly committee on Wednesday.
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| Pressure mounts on Brazilian Congress to impeach president Posted: 28 Oct 2015 12:28 PM PDT  Opposition activists handcuffed themselves to a pillar in Brazil's Congress on Wednesday seeking the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff for mismanaging a once-booming economy and undermining confidence in the country. The small protest inside the foyer of the lower chamber highlighted the growing pressure on Brazilian politicians to begin impeachment proceedings against a president struggling to survive economic recession and a huge corruption scandal. Brazil cannot put up with more unemployment, recession, inflation, currency devaluation and lack of international confidence.
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| In Indonesia, minorities under threat from Muslim hardliners Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:04 PM PDT  By Kanupriya Kapoor ACEH SINGKIL, Indonesia (Reuters) - When a mob of Muslims swooped on a little church deep in rural Aceh in Indonesia this month, the local police were nowhere to be seen, although they had received warnings of a possible attack. When they did arrive, the police were mostly unarmed and outnumbered by hundreds of activists from the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) group and others who burned the rickety church down. The FPI made no apology for the incident, saying authorities had ignored repeated complaints about churches and makeshift altars that have popped up without permits in Aceh Singkil, a district in the most conservative province of this Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation.
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| Former Toronto mayor famous for smoking crack has new cancer scare Posted: 28 Oct 2015 01:50 PM PDT  Doctors for Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto who gained global notoriety for admitting to smoking crack while in office, have found a new tumor after cancer treatment forced him out of a re-election race in 2014. Ford, now a city councillor, had abdominal pain and tests have confirmed a tumor is growing on his bladder, Ford's office said in a statement. Ford and his brother Doug Ford, who remain popular figures in Conservative politics in Toronto's suburbs, helped organize a large rally for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper two weeks ago.
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| California officials outline preparations for El Nino flooding Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:51 PM PDT As California braces for torrential downpours this winter from El Nino, authorities have stockpiled extra sandbags across the state while putting hundreds of personnel through flood-control training, officials told state lawmakers on Wednesday. Water engineers and emergency managers addressed a state Senate hearing in Los Angeles on preparations for the El Nino phenomenon, a recurring climate pattern that warms parts of the Pacific and is expected to bring severe weather to California and other regions. The latest El Nino, with forecasts of powerful winter storms and drenching rains, is seen as a mixed blessing for California, which is struggling through the fourth year of a record drought. |
| Errant military blimp sparks fighter jet response, power outages in US Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:36 PM PDT  A massive US surveillance blimp broke loose from its mooring Wednesday, sparking power outages as it drifted around Pennsylvania dragging a 6,600-foot cable before eventually easing down to Earth, officials said. Two US F-16s fighter jets were scrambled to pursue the so-called JLENS blimp as it floated north of Washington at an altitude of about 15,000 feet (4,600 meters). The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said the huge balloon-like structure finally landed in Montour County in Pennsylvania, at around 4:00 pm (2000 GMT).
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| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:33 PM PDT KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban have overrun a district in northern Afghanistan's Takhar province, and intense battles were underway Wednesday as government forces fought to retake it, an official said. Six Afghan security forces were killed in the fighting over Darqad district, which borders Tajikistan, according to Sonatullah Taimor, the spokesman for the provincial governor. The area was not affected by the earthquake that struck northern Afghanistan on Monday, with its epicenter in the neighboring province of Badakhshan, he said. |
| High drama as Japan topple China to snatch team gold Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:32 PM PDT  Japan claimed men's team gold for the first time in 37 years amid high drama at the world gymnastics championships on Wednesday. Five-time world all-around champion Kohei Uchimura and teammate Yusuke Tanaka both fell off the final apparatus, the high bar, but the Japanese held on to take gold by just 0.473 points on Britain, with reigning six-time champions China taking bronze. The Japanese scored 270.818 points after the six apparatus -- floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and high bar -- as Britain took their first world men's team medal with 270.345 and China scoring 269.959 to take the bronze.
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| Roma beats Udinese 3-1 to return to top of Serie A Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:23 PM PDT  MILAN (AP) — Roma returned to the top of Serie A with a 3-1 win over Udinese on Wednesday, but there was more misery for Juventus as the four-time defending champion lost 1-0 at Sassuolo with defender Giorgio Chiellini sent off.
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| Royals' Volquez in Dominican Republic for father's funeral Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:19 PM PDT  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez, whose father died shortly before he started Game 1 of the World Series, was in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday to attend the funeral.
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| Protest erupts during World Indigenous Games in Brazil Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:17 PM PDT  PALMAS, Brazil (AP) — A noisy demonstration disrupted the World Indigenous Games on Wednesday as native Brazilians angry over a land demarcation proposal streamed into the sporting arena.
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| Boro shock Man Utd in League Cup, Klopp off mark Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:05 PM PDT  Wayne Rooney failed to convert a penalty as Manchester United lost 3-1 on spot-kicks to second-tier Middlesbrough in the League Cup on Wednesday, while Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool edged Bournemouth. After 120 goalless minutes at Old Trafford, the fourth-round tie went to penalties and with Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ashley Young all fluffing their lines, Championship side Middlesbrough pulled off a famous win.
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| Man arrested in notorious Australian double murder Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:04 PM PDT SYDNEY (AP) — A man was arrested for the murder of a woman whose skeletal remains were found in an Australian forest 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from where her daughter's body was discovered dumped in a suitcase, police said Thursday. |
| Top Massa allies snub ruling party candidate in Argentina run-off Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:01 PM PDT  By Richard Lough and Maximilian Heath BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli's hunt for swing voters in Argentina's presidential run-off vote suffered a blow on Wednesday when two of defeated candidate Sergio Massa's top allies said they would not vote for him. Macri has the momentum early in the race to the Nov. 22 run-off after his strong showing in Sunday's ballot defied polls and shocked the ruling Front for Victory party, which had eyed a win in the first round. Jose Manuel De la Sota, the governor of Cordoba province and a senior figure in Massa's alliance, said the leftist government of outgoing leader Cristina Fernandez had been "anti-federal and authoritarian" in style.
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| German UN diplomat to take over Libya peace effort Posted: 28 Oct 2015 04:00 PM PDT  UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon plans to appoint German diplomat Martin Kobler, who led the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to head a struggling peace effort in Libya. Kobler will succeed Bernardino Leon as special envoy for Libya just as efforts to end years of turmoil in the north African country have run into hurdles over the formation of a unity government. Libya's internationally-recognized parliament and the Islamist-backed assembly have rejected the latest UN proposals for power-sharing.
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| Man United stunned in League Cup by 2nd-tier Middlesbrough Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:58 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — Manchester United was eliminated from the League Cup by second-tier Middlesbrough in a penalty shootout on Wednesday in the latest fourth-round shock.
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| Murder inquiry after pupil stabbed at school Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:57 PM PDT  Police launched a murder inquiry on Wednesday after a 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in an Aberdeen secondary school. The pupil was rushed to the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the northeast Scottish city with serious injuries, and died a short time later. The boy involved was a very gentle, caring pupil, with a lot of friends," said Anna Muirhead, head teacher of Cults Academy where the incident took place.
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| Coast guard rescues 242 after boat capsizes near Lesbos Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:54 PM PDT  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — At least 11 migrants died in the eastern Aegean Sea Wednesday in five separate incidents, including a large shipwreck from which 242 others were rescued by the Greek coast guard.
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| Prince Harry gives royal push for Invictus Games for troops Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:53 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Britain's Prince Harry made an Oval Office confession to President Barack Obama on Wednesday.
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| Madeleine McCann search scaled down Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:51 PM PDT  The size of the police team investigating the disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be scaled back eight years after the British girl went missing in Portugal, police said on Wednesday. Scotland Yard said that four officers would continue to work on the case, down from 29 at the height of the investigation. McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve region of Portugal in 2003, aged three, sparking one of the highest-profile missing persons cases ever.
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| Austria to build border fence, threatening Schengen zone Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:50 PM PDT  Austria on Wednesday announced plans to build a fence at a major border crossing with fellow EU state Slovenia to "control" the migrant influx, in a blow to the EU's cherished passport-free Schengen zone. Both countries have become key transit points for tens of thousands of refugees and migrants seeking to reach northern Europe ahead of the winter, and before more potential EU border closures. "We do not believe that the current migrant crisis that Europe is facing can be resolved with the building of fences or walls," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.
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| Nadal gets past Dimitrov, advances to Swiss Indoors QF Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:41 PM PDT  BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Rafael Nadal was pushed to three sets again at the Swiss Indoors before beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the second round on Wednesday.
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| Libya helicopter death toll at 19 Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:41 PM PDT BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya's Islamist authorities say rescue workers have recovered five more bodies in the Mediterranean, raising the death toll from Tuesday's downing of a helicopter carrying two senior officials from the Islamist-backed Tripoli government from 14 to 19. |
| Turkish police storm TV stations linked to Erdogan rival Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:31 PM PDT  Riot police firing tear gas and water cannon stormed two opposition-linked Turkish television stations and forced them off air on Wednesday, stoking deep concerns about media freedom just four days before a pivotal election. Critics accuse the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of trying to silence opponents before Sunday's vote, in which his Justice and Development Party (AKP) is widely expected to fail to regain the parliamentary majority it lost in June. Police in riot helmets were acting on a controversial court ruling ordering the seizure of companies belonging to the Kozi-Ipek conglomerate linked to US-exiled preacher Fethullah Gulen.
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| Springboks, Pumas taking RWC 3rd-place playoff seriously Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:28 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — All credit to South Africa and Argentina. Nobody would have blamed them if they had promoted their reserves and gone through the motions for the grandly titled bronze final of the Rugby World Cup on Friday.
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| Austria to build fence along parts of border with Slovenia Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:26 PM PDT  VIENNA (AP) — Austria, a strong critic of fences built to cope with Europe's migrant influx, on Wednesday announced it is joining other nations that have either already erected border barriers or are planning to do so.
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| Mexico forces 'executed' civilians: rights group Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:25 PM PDT  Mexican security forces appear to have committed new "atrocities," with evidence showing police unlawfully killed at least two unarmed civilians and nine suspects in two incidents this year, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. In both cases, witnesses saw police officers kill unarmed civilians after the initial confrontations were over, HRW said. "Based on the available evidence, it appears we're looking at two more major atrocities by Mexican security forces," said Daniel Wilkinson, managing director of the organization's Americas division.
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| The Latest: Austrian chancellor avoids word "fence" Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:24 PM PDT STOCKHOLM (AP) — The latest in the odyssey of hundreds of thousands of people trekking across Europe in search of a new life. All times local. |
| Prince Harry meets Obamas, promotes Invictus Games Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:22 PM PDT  Prince Harry was hosted at the Oval Office Wednesday, after cheering a basketball game with the first lady, during a lightning visit to the United States to promote the 2016 Invictus Games. The 31-year-old Harry joined Michelle Obama at the Fort Belvoir military installation in Virginia to meet injured troops -- and together promote the event. Harry, who was to fly out later Wednesday, headed from Virginia to the White House for an informal first meeting with US president Barack Obama.
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| Including Platini, FIFA accepts 7 in presidential race Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:22 PM PDT  GENEVA (AP) — Seven men are in the running to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, with Michel Platini's candidature accepted but pending because of his suspension from soccer.
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| Friday's lineups for the Rugby World Cup third-place match Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:19 PM PDT Friday's lineups for the Rugby World Cup third-place match: |
| Dortmund wins 7-1, Moenchengladbach beats Schalke 2-0 Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:12 PM PDT  FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Borussia Moenchengladbach beat Schalke for the second time in four days, winning 2-0 in the second round of the German Cup on Wednesday, while last season's runner-up Borussia Dortmund routed second-division Paderborn 7-1.
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| Mets put Lagares in center field for Game 2 of World Series Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:11 PM PDT  KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Trailing in the World Series, the New York Mets put a Gold Glove winner in center field for Game 2.
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| In a first, Italian PM Renzi visits Cuba Posted: 28 Oct 2015 03:07 PM PDT  Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi kicked off a visit to Cuba Wednesday, the first ever by an Italian head of government, seeking a trade foothold as the communist island renews ties with the US and Europe. Renzi, who arrived Tuesday night, was later due to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro. Italian press reports said he would seek to boost Italy's presence in the tourism, restaurant, construction, recycling and renewable energy sectors.
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| Mexico's top court postpones marijuana hearing Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:57 PM PDT  Mexico's Supreme Court postponed on Wednesday a much-anticipated hearing on a citizen group's bid to legally smoke marijuana, a potential landmark case in a country beset by drug violence. The case was brought by the Mexican Society for Responsible and Tolerant Personal Use, whose Spanish acronym spells "SMART," which is seeking permission to grow and consume its own pot. Arturo Zaldivar, considered a liberal member of the court, sympathized with the group and put the case on the agenda, proposing that SMART be given permission to grow and consume its own marijuana for recreational use.
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| Barcelona held to 0-0 draw by Villanovense in Copa del Rey Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:56 PM PDT  VILLANUEVA DE LA SERENA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona was held to a scoreless draw by third-tier Villanovense on Wednesday in a disappointing start to the Copa del Rey for the defending champion.
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| Puerto Rico bank sees drop in liquidity amid economic crisis Posted: 28 Oct 2015 02:56 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The government bank responsible for issuing Puerto Rico's bonds said Wednesday that its liquidity has dropped below $1 billion as concerns grow it won't be able to make a large upcoming bond payment amid the U.S. territory's economic crisis. |
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