| Iran, powers toil to overcome divisions in nuclear talks: envoys Posted: 05 May 2015 04:41 PM PDT  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iran and world powers are struggling to overcome deep divisions on two core sticking points in talks on a possible nuclear deal: reimposing U.N. sanctions if the Iranians violate the agreement and how Tehran can buy atomic technology, envoys said. Negotiators were wrapping up nearly a week of talks in New York on Tuesday, the latest round in 18 months of discussions aimed at clinching a long-term deal by June 30 to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an end to sanctions. The negotiations between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union will resume in Vienna next week.
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| Senator says sees Iran nuclear bill vote as soon as Thursday Posted: 05 May 2015 04:38 PM PDT  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Republican leader of the U.S. Senate cleared the way on Tuesday for a vote on a bill that would give Congress the power to review an international nuclear agreement with Iran, ending debate over efforts to use the measure to impose more conditions on Tehran. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he had filed a "cloture" motion to begin the process of formally ending debate. Both Democrats and Republicans said they expected the Iran Nuclear Review Act would pass with strong support in the vote scheduled for Thursday. "If we get to the final vote without additional blowups between now and then, I think it's going to be overwhelmingly supportive," Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and author of the bill, told reporters at the Capitol.
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| Germanwings co-pilot practiced descent on outbound flight before crash: report Posted: 05 May 2015 03:04 PM PDT  The Germanwings co-pilot suspected of deliberately crashing a plane in the French Alps in March, killing all 150 people on board, practiced a descent on the previous flight, German newspaper Bild said on Tuesday. Prosecutors believe 27-year-old German co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and veered the plane into an early descent on a flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf on March 24. Bild, citing sources close to France's BEA crash investigation agency, said an interim report that BEA was planning to publish on Wednesday would say that Lubitz had practiced reducing flight altitude on the outbound flight from Duesseldorf to Barcelona the same day as the crash.
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| U.S. wants a UN team to lay blame for Syria gas attacks: diplomats Posted: 05 May 2015 11:09 AM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States wants a team of United Nations investigators to determine who is to blame for chemicals weapons attacks in Syria in a bid to pave the way for Security Council action against those responsible, diplomats said on Tuesday. Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the United States had given him a draft Security Council resolution on the proposal on Monday, which he sent back to Moscow for study. Russia is an ally of Syria and has protected President Bashar al-Assad from council action during the four-year civil war.
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| Obama administration approves Cuba ferry service licenses Posted: 05 May 2015 03:17 PM PDT  By David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday approved licenses for passenger ferry service between the United States and Cuba, a Treasury Department official told Reuters. One of the licenses was issued to Baja Ferries, part of a major shipping group with passengers and cargo operations, including on Mexico's west coast, according to a lawyer who handled the license application. Ferry services between Cuba and the United States were cut off in the early 1960s, following the Cuban revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. In December, the United States and Cuba announced plans to renew diplomatic relations after 54 years, and have since held high level talks.
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| Charlie Hebdo to be honored in New York under increased security Posted: 05 May 2015 04:25 PM PDT  By Ellen Wulfhorst NEW YORK (Reuters) - The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, targeted in a deadly attack earlier this year by Islamist gunmen, will be honored on Tuesday at a New York gala under heavy security, organizers said. The award from the PEN American Center comes two days after two gunmen opened fire at a Texas exhibit of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad, depictions that Muslims consider offensive. Drawings of the founder of Islam were also at the heart of the January attack on Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices that killed 12 people. PEN's decision to give the Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo prompted six prominent writers to withdraw from the event and more than 100 others to write a letter of protest, said PEN, an organization advocating on behalf of writers persecuted because of their work.
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| Spy claims expose cracks in Merkel's coalition Posted: 05 May 2015 04:54 PM PDT  A widening scandal over claims Germany helped the US spy on European targets triggered tensions in Angela Merkel's coalition Tuesday, which analysts said could potentially prove dangerous for the "untouchable" chancellor. Pressure has mounted over reports that Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency snooped on European firms such as EADS, which became Airbus, as well as the French presidency and EU Commission on behalf of the US National Security Agency (NSA). In the latest diplomatic fallout, Austria's government said Tuesday it had filed a legal complaint against an unnamed party concerning "secret intelligence to the detriment of Austria". German Economy Minister and Social Democratic Party (SPD) leader Sigmar Gabriel took the affair up a notch Monday, breaking a "taboo" by relaying a personal conversation he had had with Merkel on the issue.
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| Obama, Biden tell Kurdish leader US stands by unified Iraq Posted: 05 May 2015 04:52 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden told the president of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq that the United States remains committed to a united, federal and democratic Iraq. |
| Canadiens' Brandon Prust apologizes to ref, is fined $5,000 Posted: 05 May 2015 04:51 PM PDT TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Montreal Canadiens forward Brandon Prust has been fined $5,000 by the National Hockey League for comments he made to referee Brad Watson following Game 2 against Tampa Bay. |
| Woods has memories of Peete, but never a meeting Posted: 05 May 2015 04:49 PM PDT  PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Calvin Peete competed in The Players Championship for the last time a year before Tiger Woods turned pro.
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| TIPOFF: Paul '50-50' for Clippers; Bulls' Rose ready to play Posted: 05 May 2015 04:47 PM PDT  Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers thinks the odds are 50-50 point guard Chris Paul will return on Wednesday to try to help the Clippers build a 2-0 lead over the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals.
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| Two Tanzanian U.N. peacekeepers killed in Congo ambush Posted: 05 May 2015 04:45 PM PDT Two United Nations peacekeepers from Tanzania were killed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday when their patrol was ambushed in an area where government forces are fighting Ugandan rebels, the country's U.N. mission said. The peacekeepers were attacked in the village of Kikiki, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the town of Beni in North Kivu province, Felix Basse, spokesman for the mission known as MONUSCO, told Reuters "The ambush took place today, this afternoon ... The death toll is two and we have a couple of injured," he said. The Congolese army said earlier on Tuesday that it had killed 16 Ugandan Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels during fierce fighting in the same zone over the weekend. |
| Mexico City probes metro collision; worker dies in aftermath Posted: 05 May 2015 04:37 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico City authorities were investigating Tuesday whether bad weather or excessive speed may have played a part in a two-train metro crash that injured 12 people.
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| Moments from safety, migrants die trying to reach Europe Posted: 05 May 2015 04:35 PM PDT  CATANIA, Sicily (AP) — Young men piled over each other, some shimmying up ropes dangling from the towering rescue ship and others falling into the churning sea. Women and children were the last off the stricken dinghy during a chaotic Mediterranean rescue in which at least five migrants were crushed to death and more were feared drowned.
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| Senate sets test vote on Iran sanctions bill Posted: 05 May 2015 04:35 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell set a test vote for Thursday on stalled bipartisan legislation to let Congress review and possibly reject any agreement the Obama administration makes to ease sanctions on Iran in exchange for concessions on nuclear research and development. |
| Puerto Rico rejects smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes Posted: 05 May 2015 04:34 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Smoking marijuana for medicinal purposes will not be allowed in Puerto Rico, but cannabis derivatives could be consumed in other ways, government officials said Tuesday as they provided more details on the governor's weekend executive order on cannabis use. |
| Top Asian News at 11:30 p.m. GMT Posted: 05 May 2015 04:32 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese companies are shielding themselves from lawsuits in America, denying U.S. businesses and investors their day in court, a report from a federal watchdog says. The report published Tuesday by the U.S.-China Economic Security Commission says that Chinese companies operating in the U.S. have built a legal firewall that keeps them largely immune from the jurisdiction of U.S. courts and regulatory agencies. |
| Mets pay tribute to slain NYPD officer before game Posted: 05 May 2015 04:31 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets have worn NYPD hats during batting practice before a game against Baltimore to honor a police officer who was shot and killed this week while on duty.
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| Last chance for Cameron and Miliband to break UK election deadlock Posted: 05 May 2015 04:18 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn LONDON (Reuters) - Campaigning in Britain's most unpredictable election in a generation enters its final day on Wednesday with the two main parties level in most polls and neither on track to command a majority in the parliament of the world's fifth largest economy. Despite more than five weeks of campaigning, neither Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party nor Ed Miliband's opposition Labour has established a clear lead, and the outcome of Thursday's vote could be messy and uncertain. The stakes are higher than usual because of a rare confluence of factors which mean Britain's future in the European Union, as well as its national cohesion, could hinge on the election outcome. Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on whether to stay in or quit the EU if he returns to power.
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| Canada judge delays Guantanamo ex-inmate's bail Posted: 05 May 2015 04:17 PM PDT  An appeals court delayed Tuesday the release of former Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr from a Canadian jail in order to mull arguments that doing so would cause irreparable harm to Canada's diplomatic relations. A final bail decision in the case has now been pushed to Thursday. As part of the agreement, he was also sent home to Canada in 2012 to serve the remainder of his sentence. Last month, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta granted the now 28-year-old Khadr bail pending the outcome of an appeal of his war crimes conviction before a US special military court.
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| Suit filed against Pacquiao for not disclosing injury Posted: 05 May 2015 04:11 PM PDT  LAS VEGAS (AP) — Manny Pacquiao and his handlers have been hit with a lawsuit asking for damages for anyone who paid to watch his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. because he failed to disclose his shoulder was injured.
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| Mexico: 2 workers dead, 10 hurt in Mexico oil rig accident Posted: 05 May 2015 04:09 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — An accident on an oil well-maintenance platform killed two workers and injured 10 off Mexico's coast on Tuesday, company officials reported, blaming the incident on the collapse of one of the rig's legs. |
| Order to shut Los Bronces waste dump won't affect operations: Anglo American Posted: 05 May 2015 03:58 PM PDT  An order by Chile's SMA environmental regulator to shut a waste dump at Anglo American PLC's Los Bronces copper mine will not impact production or operations there, the company told Reuters on Tuesday. The Donoso waste dump, which is used to store waste rock and is the only waste dump at the mine ordered closed, is not currently in use, the company said. Los Bronces copper mine was fined 3.8 billion pesos ($6.24 million) over infractions including acid drainage at the waste dump, the regulator said earlier on Tuesday.
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| Anglo's Los Bronces fined $6.2 million for Chile environmental breaches Posted: 05 May 2015 03:56 PM PDT  Anglo American PLC's Los Bronces copper mine has been slapped with a 3.8 billion pesos ($6.24 million) fine and ordered to shut one of its waste dumps, Chile's environmental regulator said on Tuesday. Los Bronces, perched high in the Andes near Santiago, produced 436,900 tonnes of red metal in 2014, roughly 7 percent of world No.1 copper producer Chile's overall output. Los Bronces is Anglo's flagship mine in Chile. The Donoso dump is not in use at the mine and the company does not expect the decision to affect copper production or operations, Anglo American said.
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| At least 19 injured in Macedonia anti-government protest Posted: 05 May 2015 03:50 PM PDT  At least 19 people were injured Tuesday, including 15 police officers and a photographer, when an anti-government protest in Macedonian capital turned violent. Police used teargas and watercannon to disperse some 1,000 people who gathered in front of the government building in Skopje following an opposition leader's accusation that the cabinet of conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski had covered up the 2011 murder of a 22-year old man beaten by police during post-election celebrations. Chanting "Murderers! Murderers!" and demanding the government's resignation, protesters threw objects and broke windows at the government building, crashed cars parked nearby and torched several containers. Fifteen of the injured were police officers, interior ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski told AFP, adding that protesters hurled hard objects at the police and that the number of those injured could rise.
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| Obama administration approves first ferry service to Cuba Posted: 05 May 2015 03:49 PM PDT HAVANA (AP) — The Obama administration approved the first ferry service in decades between the United States and Cuba on Tuesday, potentially opening a new path for the hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars in goods that travel between Florida and Havana each year. |
| Leaders prepare final push in tight UK election Posted: 05 May 2015 03:44 PM PDT  Britain's political leaders were in a final push for votes ahead of Thursday's knife-edge general election, while gearing up for the likelihood of drawn-out negotiations once polls close. Prime Minister David Cameron, whose Conservatives are deadlocked with the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, launched a tour that will see him campaign until the last minute. Neither of the two main parties is expected to win a clear majority in the House of Commons, setting the stage for days or weeks of negotiations to team up with smaller parties to take power. Cameron urged voters to give his party a clear mandate to govern, saying the alternative was years of "backroom deals" if Labour sought to form a government with the support of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP).
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| Macedonian opposition chief: PM tried to cover up a killing Posted: 05 May 2015 03:33 PM PDT  SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — Violent clashes broke out late Tuesday at a demonstration in the Macedonian capital Skopje protesting the 2011 death of a 22-year-old beaten by police during post-election celebrations.
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| Canadian judge delays bail decision for ex-Gitmo inmate Posted: 05 May 2015 03:32 PM PDT  EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — A Canadian judge said Tuesday she needs more time to make a decision on whether a former Guantanamo Bay inmate should be released on bail while he appeals his conviction for war crimes in the United States.
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| Virgin Islands police suspect US man in slaying of parents Posted: 05 May 2015 03:31 PM PDT KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — A 24-year-old Massachusetts man is suspected of fatally stabbing his parents during a family vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands and then fleeing the three-island Caribbean territory, investigators said Tuesday. |
| UN peacekeepers killed in eastern DR Congo ambush Posted: 05 May 2015 03:27 PM PDT  An unknown number of peacekeepers have been killed in an ambush near the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city Beni, the head of the UN mission, Martin Kobler, said Tuesday. "It is with sadness and anger that I have just learned of the deaths of peacekeepers in an ambush near Beni," a trading hub in the north of troubled North Kivu province, Kobler said on his Twitter account, without stating the number killed. Local administrator Amisi Kalonda said Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) staged the ambush targeting a convoy of Tanzanian peacekeepers in the UN force known as MONUSCO.
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| Two dead in new Mexico oil rig accident Posted: 05 May 2015 03:20 PM PDT  At least two workers died and 10 were injured Tuesday when an oil maintenance platform tilted over the sea off Mexico's east coast, forcing the evacuation of 101 employees. Mexico's state-run Pemex energy company said three of its employees and 98 Typhoon workers were evacuated during the incident in the Campeche Sound area of the Gulf of Mexico. The accident left two workers dead and 10 injured, Typhoon said. Pemex said oil production was not affected.
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| Las Vegas to host world table tennis event in 2018 Posted: 05 May 2015 03:12 PM PDT COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Nevada will host the World Veteran Table Tennis Championship in 2018. |
| Juventus beats Real Madrid 2-1 in 1st leg of CL semifinal Posted: 05 May 2015 03:08 PM PDT  TURIN, Italy (AP) — Former Real Madrid forward Alvaro Morata came back to haunt his old club as he sent Juventus on its way to a 2-1 victory over the holders in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday.
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| Residents' control is best answer to threat of deforestation: researchers Posted: 05 May 2015 03:06 PM PDT By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Expanding agriculture is the biggest driver of deforestation around the world, and giving local residents greater control over forested land leads to better environmental management, forest researchers said on Wednesday. Expanding agriculture accounts for 73 percent of the world's forest loss, the report, released at the United Nations Forum on Forests, said. "There are countries that are achieving food security while at the same time reducing the rate of deforestation," Eva Muller, a senior forestry official at the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, though she declined to give examples. |
| Forest Service chief predicts above normal U.S. wildfire season Posted: 05 May 2015 03:04 PM PDT  By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday predicted an above normal wildfire season for vast swaths of the western and northern United States due to drought and higher-than-average temperatures. The forecast indicating large and possibly more damaging fires comes as parched portions of the U.S. West have already experienced blazes weeks before the usual start of wildland fire season in late spring. "We expect 2015 to continue the trend of above average fire activity," Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said in testimony to a U.S. Senate panel in Washington. "Above normal wildland fire potential exists across the north central United States and above normal wildland fire potential will threaten many parts of the West this summer," Tidwell added.
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| Gunmen rob S.African ex-striker McCarthy at barbers Posted: 05 May 2015 02:47 PM PDT  South Africa's record goalscorer and Champions League winner Benni McCarthy was robbed at gun point Tuesday while having a hair cut in Johannesburg, his agent said. Three gunmen stormed a barber's shop in Johannesburg's Melrose suburb robbing the 37-year-old of his wedding ring, watch and other valuables. McCarthy's agent Percy Adams said the robbers targeted just the striker - who helped Portugal's Porto to win the 2004 Champions League under Jose Mourinho - in a packed salon.
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| Column: Pacquiao injury another hit for boxing Posted: 05 May 2015 02:43 PM PDT  LAS VEGAS (AP) — The people who paid $99.95 to watch at home had no clue.
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