| North Korea's Kim ordered execution of 15 officials this year: South's spy agency Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:38 PM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the execution of 15 senior officials this year as punishment for challenging his authority, South Korea's spy agency told a closed-door parliament meeting on Wednesday. A vice minister for forestry was one of the officials executed for complaining about a state policy, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, Shin Kyung-min, quoted an unnamed National Intelligence Service official as saying. "Excuses or reasoning doesn't work for Kim Jong Un, and his style of rule is to push through everything, and if there's any objection, he takes that as a challenge to authority and comes back with execution as a showcase," Shin said. "In the four months this year, fifteen senior officials are said to have been executed," Shin cited the intelligence official as saying, according to his office.
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| Images show North Korea nuclear reactor may be operating again: experts Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:52 PM PDT  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellite images taken between January and this month show a North Korean nuclear reactor that can yield material for atomic bombs may be operating again at low power or intermittently, U.S. experts said on Wednesday. A report from David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini at Washington's Institute for Science and International Security said the imagery also suggested that a centrifuge plant at the Yongbyon nuclear complex had been operated and that North Korea may be preparing to conduct renovations at this plant. The latest ISIS analysis comes at a time of rising concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities. The experts based their latest assessment on observation of melting snow patterns on the reactor and turbine buildings at Yongbyon, indicating that the insides of the buildings may have been hot.
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| U.S. asks Iran to help bring Yemeni parties into talks Posted: 29 Apr 2015 02:46 PM PDT  The United States sought Iran's help to bring Yemen's warring parties into talks on a political settlement when U.S. and Iranian foreign minister's met on Monday, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Iran is allied with the Houthi militias that took the Yemeni capital Sanaa in September, demanding a more inclusive government. The Shi'ite Houthis have since swept south, unsettling Sunni-ruled oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which fears the spread of Iranian influence in the region. Saudi Arabia conducted an air campaign to bomb Houthi targets.
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| Iran suggests U.S. intelligence operative may have taken advantage of detained reporter Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:21 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday suggested that an intelligence operative, possibly linked to the U.S. government, may have taken advantage of Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian, who has been charged in Iran with espionage and other crimes. "The fact is there are people who take advantage of the needs of some people who try to get a visa to come to the United States or for their wives to come to the United States and make demands that are illegal and dangerous and damaging to the professionalism of a journalist," said Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif. Zarif participated in a discussion hosted by New York University's Center on International Cooperation and the think tank New America and moderated by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Rezaian was detained last year in Iran.
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| Saudi king resets succession to cope with turbulent times Posted: 29 Apr 2015 01:27 PM PDT  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Salman appointed a nephew as new heir and made his young son second in line to rule on Wednesday, a major shift in power towards two princes who have overseen a more assertive stance at a time of almost unprecedented regional turmoil. By making Interior Minister Mohammed bin Nayef, 55, crown prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman, 30, deputy crown prince, King Salman has effectively decided the line of succession for decades to come in the world's top oil exporter. The announcement means the kingship will pass to a new generation for the first time since 1953, when the throne passed from the founder of the dynasty, King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, to the first of six of his sons who have held it since. The appointments signal a tougher foreign policy, particularly towards regional foe Iran, but little change to a firm hand against dissent at home, where Riyadh this week said it had detained 93 suspected Islamic State militants.
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| Senate rejects tying terrorism support to Iran sanctions relief Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:31 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate rejected an effort on Wednesday to tie sanctions relief for Iran under an international nuclear agreement to a requirement that President Barack Obama certify that Tehran is not supporting acts of terrorism against Americans. A handful of Republicans joined Senate Democrats to reject by a 54-45 vote a proposed amendment offered by Republican Senator John Barrasso that would have added the terrorism clause to a bill subjecting an international nuclear agreement to review by the U.S. Congress. The Senate has been engaged in intense debate over the legislation, a compromise version of the bill reached in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week in an effort to avoid a presidential veto.
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| Iran 'godfather' of IS jihadists: opposition leader Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:49 PM PDT  The leader of an exiled Iranian opposition group addressed US lawmakers for the first time Wednesday and warned of the links between Shiite Iran and the Sunni Muslim Islamic State (IS) militants. "It was the mullahs' regime who helped the creation of ISIS... and the killing of Sunnis in Iraq helped the emergence of ISIS," Maryam Rajavi told House lawmakers, using another acronym for the IS jihadist group that has captured a swathe of territory in Iraq and Syria. Rajavi is the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a political umbrella coalition of five Iranian opposition groups that includes the once blacklisted People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK). The Paris-based group has proved controversial in the past due to its links with the MEK, formed in the 1960s to overthrow the then shah of Iran.
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| Syrian opposition, activists report chemical attack in Idlib Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:49 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Syrian activist groups on Wednesday reported another suspected chemical attack in the northwestern province of Idlib, with one group tweeting that a dozen people were "suffocating." |
| Myanmar parliament speaker to meet No. 2 US diplomat Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:46 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department says that Myanmar parliament speaker Shwe Mann will discuss democratic reforms with the No. 2 U.S. diplomat next week during a visit to Washington. |
| US Virgin Islands inmate charged with threatening witness Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:46 PM PDT CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — An inmate in the U.S. Virgin Islands has been charged with threatening a witness in a murder case. |
| Brazil executives moved to house arrest in corruption case Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:43 PM PDT RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Top executives from several big Brazilian construction and engineering firms left prison Wednesday but will remain under house arrest for their alleged roles in a big kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras. |
| Blast at explosives factory in Syria kills 25 IS fighters: monitor Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:40 PM PDT  Twenty-five fighters from the Islamic State group were killed when a powerful blast rocked an explosives manufacturing plant in Syria's eastern Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether the explosion was accidental or the result of a missile strike, the Britain-based Observatory said. "A strong explosion took place this evening in an IS explosives factory in the town of Al–Mayadeen in the province of Deir Ezzor," the monitoring group said. The Islamic State group, which imposes a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, controls most of the oil province of Deir Ezzor, which borders Iraq.
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| Waratahs meet Brumbies in crucial Super Rugby clash Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:36 PM PDT WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The defending champion New South Wales Waratahs face the ACT Brumbies on Friday in a 12th-round Super Rugby match that may decide first place in the Australian conference impact on the selection of the first Wallabies team of the season. |
| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:32 PM PDT KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The first supplies of food aid began reaching remote, earthquake-shattered mountain villages in Nepal on Wednesday, while thousands clamored to board buses out of Kathmandu, either to check on rural relatives or for fear of spending yet another night in the damaged capital. Frustration over the slow delivery of humanitarian aid boiled over in a protest in the city, with about 200 people facing off with police and blocking traffic. |
| Mega-fight not good v evil - Mayweather Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:31 PM PDT  Floyd Mayweather said Wednesday his long-awaited showdown with Manny Pacquiao isn't a battle of good and evil as the two rivals went eyeball-to-eyeball at their final pre-fight press conference. "I am a realist," said Mayweather, the 38-year-old American who has parlayed a perfect 47-0 ring record into a reign as the highest paid sportsman on the planet. Pacquiao, a two-term congressman touted as a potential future president of the Philippines, is beloved as a humanitarian in his native land. A devout Christian who has put womanizing and gambling days behind him, Pacquiao said Wednesday that his main aim in taking on Mayweather in what will be the richest fight in boxing history was to inspire the weak and glorify God.
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| Owner names top thoroughbreds after European soccer clubs Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:31 PM PDT  LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Two of the great passions in Kaleem Shah's life are horse racing and soccer.
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| 100 injured in teacher protest in Brazil city of Curitiba Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:29 PM PDT  More than 100 people were injured on Wednesday in violent clashes between protesters and police in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, where teachers were marching to oppose a change to state pensions, the city's mayor said. Video clips on the website of local newspaper Gazeta do Povo showed police firing cans of tear gas at protesters as they approached the legislative assembly for the state of Parana, where a vote was being held to change pension terms for teachers. Some protesters could be seen wearing motorcycle helmets and using trash bin lids as shields. "We have opened the city council building for people injured (in the protests).
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| Spieth advances on a day of hand-wringing at Match Play Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:28 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Masters champion Jordan Spieth had to play good golf to have an easy time Wednesday in the Match Play Championship.
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| Money the big thing as Mayweather, Pacquiao ready for fight Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:27 PM PDT  LAS VEGAS (AP) — His middle name is Money, or at least it used to be before Floyd Mayweather Jr. stopped flashing $100,000 wads of cash every time he saw a camera.
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| France investigating alleged child sex abuse by its troops in C.Africa Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:19 PM PDT  France is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic after a leaked UN report said victims as young as eight were raped in exchange for food and money. The French government "was made aware at the end of July 2014 by the UN's high commission for human rights of accusations by children that they had been sexually abused by French soldiers," the defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
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| Sun backs Conservatives in election Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:04 PM PDT  Britain's best-selling newspaper The Sun on Thursday urged readers to vote for the Conservative party of Prime Minister David Cameron in the election next week. In a front page that riffed on the arrival of the royal baby, The Sun put "It's a Tory" as its headline above an image of Cameron swaddled in a blanket. In a contrast that was widely mocked on social media, the Scottish edition of the Sun instead endorsed the Scottish National Party. "We believe the Nats will fight harder for Scotland's interests at Westminster, offering a new hope for our country," the front page of the Scottish Sun read.
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| France investigates accusations that soldiers raped children Posted: 29 Apr 2015 04:00 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors and military authorities are investigating accusations that French soldiers in Central African Republic sexually abused children they were sent to protect.
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| Export freeze sows bitterness in Venezuela chocolate trade Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:55 PM PDT  EL CLAVO, Venezuela (AP) — William Machado worked all winter harvesting palm-sized yellow cacao pods and drying the flavorful beans inside. He's part of a chocolate trade that is one of this South American county's most prized industries, but Machado increasingly fears his hard work may be in vain, squandered by a freeze on exports.
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| Thousands of protesters march in Baltimore, mass in NY Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:52 PM PDT  Thousands of young protesters marched through downtown Baltimore and demonstrated in New York on Wednesday demanding justice for an African-American man who died of severe spinal injuries sustained in police custody.
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| Moody's cuts Greece's rating to 'Caa2' as uncertainty rises Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:39 PM PDT By George Georgiopoulos ATHENS (Reuters) - Ratings agency Moody's on Thursday cut Greece's credit rating deeper into junk territory due to uncertainty over whether the indebted country will be able to reach a deal with its international lenders in time to meet upcoming debt repayments. It said Athens will need to sustain primary budget surpluses over many years to make inroads in reducing its debt burden. |
| Libya says detainees admit murders of seven journalists Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:38 PM PDT  Libya's internationally recognised government on Wednesday said five detainees had admitted to killing five reporters from a local television station as well as two Tunisian journalists, in murders previously claimed by the Islamic State group. The team of reporters from Barqa TV has been missing for eight months. In January, the Libyan branch of the Islamic State group claimed to have executed the two Tunisian journalists -- Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari -- who went missing in eastern Libya in September. During the course of the investigation, the detainees also admitted responsibility for "the murder of two Tunisian journalists in Libya", the statement added.
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| One dead in Sudan student clashes: ministry Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:33 PM PDT  A man died after being injured in clashes between two groups of university students in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Wednesday, the interior ministry said in a statement. Violence erupted between students supporting the ruling National Congress Party and another group from Darfur who criticised recent elections won by President Omar al-Bashir, an eyewitness said. "After a dispute between two groups of students from Sharq al-Nil University College, one of the groups attacked the other inside the university campus," the interior ministry said in a statement on its website. Several people were hurt in the clash and one of those, Mohammed Awad, "was injured and transferred to a hospital, where he died," the statement said, without giving details about the deceased.
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| G7 says Chernobyl shelter to be completed by Nov 2017 Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:22 PM PDT  By Marc Jones LONDON (Reuters) - The world's leading powers said on Wednesday a protective cover over the collapsed Chernobyl nuclear power plant would be completed by November 2017, although they were still short of funds to finish the project. Jochen Flasbarth, Germany's state secretary for the environment representing the Group of Seven major economies, said that "concrete pledges" were now in place for 530 million euros ($590 million) of the remaining 650 million euros needed to complete the "sarcophagus." He said he was confident that countries including Russia and China would provide the rest of the money following promises by both to do so. The explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant on April 26, 1986 was the world's worst nuclear accident.
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| Brazil: Teachers, police clash outside congress building Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:21 PM PDT RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Violent clashes between striking teachers and police left at least 150 people injured on Wednesday in the southern Brazilian city of Curitiba, officials said. |
| Crowds prevent Gabon opposition leader's body being flown home Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:20 PM PDT  Gabonese authorities were unable Wednesday to transfer the body of longtime opposition figure Andre Mba Obame from Libreville to his stronghold in the north due to the huge crowd of supporters thronging the capital, a source close to the presidency said. "The crowds didn't wish to comply and the body was returned" to Obame's home, he added. Obame, who was 57 and had been plagued by serious health problems, died in Cameroon on April 12, five years after mounting a major challenge to Gabon's President Ali Bongo Ondimba in elections in 2009. A powerful former interior minister, Mba Obame joined the opposition after the death of Omar Bongo Ondimba, who had been in power for 41 years and was father of current President Ali Bongo Ondimba.
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| Madrid beats Almeria 3-0 to stay 2 points behind Barcelona Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:16 PM PDT  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — James Rodriguez scored a stunning goal to lead Real Madrid to a 3-0 win over Almeria on Wednesday that kept his side two points behind leader Barcelona in the final stretch of the Spanish league title race.
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| Microsoft targets $20 billion in annual cloud revenue by 2018 Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:15 PM PDT  Microsoft Corp is targeting $20 billion in annual revenue from its cloud-computing businesses by the end of fiscal 2018, Chief Executive Satya Nadella said on Wednesday, signaling a tripling of such revenue in three years. Microsoft said last week that its total commercial cloud revenue, which includes online versions of its Office and Dynamics applications, is running at $6.3 billion per year.
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| Column: Mayweather pretends domestic abuse never happened Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:14 PM PDT  LAS VEGAS (AP) — The spokeswoman from FanDuel was having trouble answering the question. Not her fault, really, because others involved with Floyd Mayweather Jr. struggle with the same thing.
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| Right call? Orioles take the field in riot-torn Baltimore Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:09 PM PDT  BALTIMORE (AP) — With tempers still smoldering in riot-torn Baltimore and nearby neighborhoods clearing out rubble and debris, the Orioles played a baseball game on Wednesday.
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| Canada pledges funds to Jordan for refugees, security Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:08 PM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged Can$122.8 million Wednesday to help Jordan cope with a massive influx of Syrian refugees and boost its counterterrorism capabilities. Both Canada and Jordan are part of the US-led military mission targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria with airstrikes. Jordan has also taken in 1.5 million refugees fleeing fighting in Syria, a number equal to 20-25 percent of its population. The Canadian funding, which totals $102.2 million in US dollars, will be used to help Jordanian communities deal with the "socio-economic challenges" of hosting a large group of refugees as well as to bolster Jordan's counterterrorism capabilities, and enhance its border security.
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| Juventus beats Fiorentina 3-2 but left waiting for title Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:02 PM PDT  MILAN (AP) — Runaway Serie A leader Juventus beat Fiorentina 3-2 on Wednesday but its title celebrations were delayed by Lazio's 4-0 victory over a Parma side which is now certain to be relegated.
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| Nepal quake toll tops 5,000 as aid reaches area near epicenter Posted: 29 Apr 2015 03:00 PM PDT KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The first supplies of food aid began reaching remote, earthquake-shattered mountain villages in Nepal on Wednesday, while thousands clamored to board buses out of Kathmandu, either to check on rural relatives or for fear of spending yet another night in the damaged capital. |
| O'Sullivan bows out tamely to Bingham Posted: 29 Apr 2015 02:59 PM PDT  Five-time world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan's eventful world championships came to a disappointing end on Wednesday when he lost 13-9 in the quarter-finals to fellow-Englishman Stuart Bingham. O'Sullivan, whose mercurial behaviour during the tournament saw him play part of a frame without his shoes on, almost snap his cue in half and make an obscene gesture, had no answer to Bingham's play in the final session having gone in all square at 8-8. O'Sullivan, who had made the final in the past four years, conceded that perhaps his time at the top was over. O'Sullivan won the opening frame of the evening session to go 9-8 up but after that he barely got a look-in against a player he had humbled 13-4 in the quarter-finals at the 2013 championships.
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