| G7 leaders urge tough line on Russia at Alpine summit Posted: 07 Jun 2015 12:53 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Noah Barkin KRUEN, Germany (Reuters) - Group of Seven (G7) leaders vowed at a summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday to keep sanctions against Russia in place until President Vladimir Putin and Moscow-backed separatists fully implement the terms of a peace deal for Ukraine. The Ukraine conflict and a long-running debt standoff between Greece and its European partners dominated the first day of the annual meeting hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel at Schloss Elmau, a luxury Alpine hotel in southern Germany. Merkel is hoping to secure commitments from her G7 guests to tackle global warming ahead of a major United Nations climate summit in Paris in December.
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| Test for Pena Nieto as Mexicans vote in shadow of gang murders Posted: 07 Jun 2015 11:08 AM PDT  By Dave Graham and Max De Haldevang MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's party is expected to keep its slim working majority in the lower house of Congress in legislative elections on Sunday despite discontent about corruption, gang violence and lackluster economic growth. At least seven candidates and nine campaign officials were murdered in campaigning soured by drug cartel intimidation and dissident teachers protesting against education reforms. Early on Sunday dozens of ballot boxes were burned by activists in Guerrero and Oaxaca states, two of Mexico's most restive.
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| Kurdish party thwarts Erdogan's ambitions with Turkish election advance Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:01 PM PDT  By Ercan Gurses and Nick Tattersall ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's hopes of assuming greater powers suffered a major setback on Sunday when the ruling AK Party he founded failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election for the first time. Erdogan, Turkey's most popular modern leader but also its most divisive, had hoped a crushing victory for the AKP would allow it to change the constitution and create a more powerful U.S.-style presidency. With 98 percent of ballots counted, the AKP took 40.8 percent of the vote, according to broadcaster CNN Turk, down from 49.8 percent at the last parliamentary election in 2011.
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| Saudi-led air strikes kill 44 in attack on Yemeni army compound: agency Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:19 AM PDT Saudi-led air strikes killed at least 44 people during an air raid on the main headquarters of the Yemeni army in central Sanaa on Sunday, the Houthi-run state news agency Saba said. Residents had earlier said that four explosions shook the compound, where soldiers allied with the Iranian-backed Houthi group that dominates Yemen had gathered since Saturday evening to get their pay checks. The agency quoted a source at the Health Ministry as saying that rescue teams where working to find people believed to be still under the rubble of houses destroyed by the raids. |
| U.N. to host new rounds of Libya talks in Morocco Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:35 PM PDT By Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - The United Nations plans to host on Monday in Morocco a new round of talks among Libya's warring factions in an effort to end a conflict that threatens to break up the oil producer. The internationally recognized government has had to operate out of the East of the north African oil state since an armed alliance known as Libya Dawn took over the capital Tripoli and set up its own self-declared government last year. Western officials say the U.N. talks are the only hope of forming a unity government and halting the fighting among factions allied to either government. |
| Obama says stay, but some Cameron MPs prepare to back UK exit from EU Posted: 07 Jun 2015 11:59 AM PDT  By Michael Holden and William James LONDON (Reuters) - More than 50 lawmakers in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party launched a campaign to back Britain's exit from the EU unless he can get it to adopt radical reforms, even as U.S. President Barack Obama argued in favor of staying. Cameron, riding high after a surprise outright victory in last month's parliamentary election, wants to claw back powers from the European Union before holding a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether Britain should stay or leave. "We wish David Cameron every success, but unless senior EU officials awake to the possibility that one of the EU's largest members is serious about a fundamental change in our relationship, our recommendation to British voters seems likely to be exit," Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker said on Sunday.
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| Suzann Pettersen wins Manulife LPGA Classic Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:42 PM PDT  CAMBRIDGE, Ontario (AP) — Suzann Pettersen birdied two of the last three holes to win the Manulife LPGA Classic on Sunday for her 15th LPGA Tour victory and first since October 2013.
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| Lingmerth goes the distance and more to win Memorial Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:24 PM PDT  DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — David Lingmerth didn't crack over the final two hours Sunday at the Memorial, outlasting Justin Rose with a par on the third playoff hole at Muirfield Village to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
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| Chinese emissions may peak by 2025, says analysis Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:10 PM PDT  In a boost for hopes to curb climate change, China's greenhouse gas emissions will probably peak in 2025, five years earlier than its stated target, a study said Monday. On current trends, the world's biggest carbon emitter will discharge 12.5-14 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) in 2025, after which emissions will decline, it said. The work was carried out by two research institutes at the London School of Economics (LSE).
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| Turkey ruling party loses majority in blow for Erdogan Posted: 07 Jun 2015 04:01 PM PDT  Turkey's Islamic-rooted ruling party lost its parliamentary majority in Sunday's legislative elections, dealing a severe blow to strongman President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambition to expand his powers. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the biggest share of the vote in the closely-fought elections, but lost almost 10 percent on the nearly 50 percent it recorded in the previous 2011 polls. Under Turkey's proportional representation system, this means the AKP will need to form a coalition for the first time since coming to power in 2002.
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| Blanca a tropical storm as it nears Mexico's Baja California Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:50 PM PDT  CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (AP) — Hurricane Blanca was downgraded to a tropical storm Sunday as it neared the Baja California Peninsula, where residents boarded up home and storefront windows in preparation for the heavy rains and high winds that were forecast to lash a wide area including the resorts of Los Cabos.
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| Blanca weakens as it approaches Mexico's Pacific coast Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:47 PM PDT  By Christine Murray CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico (Reuters) - Tropical storm Blanca approached Mexico's Baja California peninsula on Sunday, the system slowing as it approached landfall but still threatening to drench the area with significant rain. Blanca, which reached Hurricane Category 4 storm status on Saturday, has steadily lost steam as it neared Mexico's Pacific coast. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the system could produce total rainfall of 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) over much of Baja California, including the possibility of "life threatening flash floods and mudslides." Blanca was located about 130 miles (210 km) south-southwest of the resort city of Cabo San Lucas at the southern tip of the peninsula, according to the NHC's latest advisory.
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| Germany, Norway humiliate World Cup newcomers Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:45 PM PDT  Former champions Germany and Norway got off to winning starts at the women's World Cup on Sunday as newcomers Ivory Coast and Thailand took a battering. Germany whipped the Ivory Coast 10-0 after Norway thrashed Thailand 4-0 in the opening round of Group B matches in Ottawa's Lansdowne Stadium. Hat-tricks from Celia Sasic (3, 14, 31) and Anja Mittag (29, 35, 64) put the world's top team on their way with Simone Laudehr (71), Sara Daebritz (75), Melanie Behringer (79) and Alexandra Popp (85) also finding the net.
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| Demirtas: bright new star of Turkish politics Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:41 PM PDT  The leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas has emerged as a potent force in national politics after guiding his party past Turkey's notoriously tough 10-percent threshold to win dozens of seats in legislative elections. In a bruising campaign, Demirtas successfully reached out to non-Kurdish voters and won praise for his statesman-like response to a bomb attack on a party rally that killed two people just two days before Sunday's polls. Demirtas will now lead 79 MPs in the new parliament after scooping over 13 percent of the vote.
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| Protesters burn ballots in bid to block Mexico vote Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:37 PM PDT  The protests in the impoverished southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero occurred despite the deployment of federal police and troops to ensure people can cast their votes across the country. A radical teachers union held daily protests this week to pressure President Enrique Pena Nieto into withdrawing a landmark education reform aimed at improving the country's lackluster school system.
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| Scattered violence as Mexico holds midterm elections Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:32 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Protesters burned ballot boxes in several restive states of southern Mexico on Sunday in an attempt to disrupt elections seen as a litmus test for President Enrique Pena Nieto's government, while officials said the vote was proceeding satisfactorily despite "isolated incidents."
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| Groundhog Day: Animal wanders onto track at Canadian GP Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:30 PM PDT  MONTREAL (AP) — A groundhog that scampered onto the track during the Canadian Grand Prix showed the quickness of a Formula One driver when it scurried to safety and avoided the oncoming racecars.
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| Brazil beats Mexico 2-0 in warmup for Copa America Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:29 PM PDT  SAO PAULO (AP) — Philippe Coutinho and Diego Tardelli scored a goal each in the first half to give Brazil a 2-0 win over Mexico in a warmup for the Copa America on Sunday.
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| Spain ex-premier arrives in Caracas to help jailed leader Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:23 PM PDT  Caracas, Venezuela (AP) — A former Spanish prime minister has arrived in Venezuela, where he intends to help lawyers defending imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
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| German anti-Islam PEGIDA makes surprise gains in first local polls Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:21 PM PDT  Germany's anti-Islam PEGIDA movement took nearly 10 percent of the vote in mayoral elections in its eastern stronghold of Dresden Sunday, a better-than-expected result for a group whose weekly demonstrations have steadily dwindled. In what was PEGIDA's first appearance at the ballot box, candidate Tatjana Festerling came fourth in the city's polls, sparked after the conservative mayor resigned for health reasons, with 9.6 percent of the vote. The only opinion poll published ahead of the election, by the Technical University of Dresden, had predicted she would secure between just one and two percent of votes.
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| British model Kate Moss escorted off flight Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:21 PM PDT  British supermodel Kate Moss was escorted off a plane at a London airport on Sunday for being "disruptive", the BBC reported. "Officers attended and escorted the passenger from the plane," a Bedfordshire Police spokesman said.
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| Turkey's MHP wants early election if coalition efforts fail Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:12 PM PDT Turkey should hold a new election if the ruling AK Party is unable to agree a coalition with parliament's two other opposition parties, the leader of the right-wing Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) said on Monday. The MHP had been seen as the most likely junior coalition partner for the AKP, which lost its simple majority in an election on Sunday. "The first possibility for a coalition should be between the AKP and (pro-Kurdish) HDP. |
| Germany beats Ivory Coast 10-0 in Women's World Cup Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:10 PM PDT  OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Celia Sasic scored the fastest hat trick in Women's World Cup history and Anja Mittag also scored three goals to spark top-ranked Germany to a 10-0 victort over Ivory Coast on Sunday in a Group B match — the second-most lopsided win in event history.
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| Obama's trade quest in Congress trails him across Atlantic Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:07 PM PDT  ELMAU, Germany (AP) — President Barack Obama's politically fraught trade quest in Washington trailed him across the Atlantic Sunday, as he met with world leaders anxiously watching a debate on Capitol Hill that could impact the status of economic pacts with the Asia-Pacific and Europe.
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| Truex breaks through at Pocono for 1st win since 2013 Posted: 07 Jun 2015 03:04 PM PDT  LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. slapped the top of his No. 78 Chevrolet, thrust his right fist toward the sky and bounded straight into his girlfriend's arms.
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| Fellaini scores twice as Belgium wins 4-3 away to France Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:57 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini scored twice as Belgium produced a scintillating attacking display to win 4-3 away to France on Sunday.
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| Erdogan: Turkey's abrasive 'Sultan' suffers setback Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:55 PM PDT  Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey for over a decade first as premier and now as president, has suffered the worst election setback of his career in legislative polls amid increasing controversy over his polarising rule. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) co-founded by Erdogan won the most votes in Sunday's elections but lost its absolute majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power in 2002. The result has scuttled Erdogan's plan to push through the constitutional changes he yearns for to create a presidential system that would give him greater powers.
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| Barcelona celebrates 5th European Cup with parade for fans Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:51 PM PDT  BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Thousands of Barcelona's fans flocked to the city center on Sunday to celebrate with their team a day after it won its fifth European Cup and completed a historic treble of titles.
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| Turkish ruling party seen losing majority in parliament Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:41 PM PDT  ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — In a stunning rebuke of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ambitions to expand his powers, Turkish voters stripped his party of its simple majority in parliament, preliminary election results showed Sunday.
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| Hamilton wins in Canada to end Rosberg's resurgence Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:41 PM PDT  Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton bounced back and increased his lead in the drivers world championship Sunday when he drove to a well-measured victory ahead of Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in the Canadian Grand Prix. The two-time champion made the most of the 44th pole position of his career to lead from the lights to the chequered flag, finishing the 70 laps contest at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve 2.2 seconds clear of the 29-year-old German. It was Hamilton's fourth win in Canada, his fourth win this year and the 37th win of his career, lifting him 17 points clear of Rosberg in the title race with 151 points to the German's 134.
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| Hurricane Blanca weakens to tropical storm near Mexico Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:40 PM PDT  Mexico City (AFP) - Hurricane Blanca weakened to tropical storm force on Sunday as it approached Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
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| Turkey's lira hits record low after election jolt for ruling AKP Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:12 PM PDT By David Dolan ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Turkish lira hit a record low in weekend-thinned trade on Sunday, after the governing AK Party failed to win an outright majority in a parliamentary election, unsettling investors with the prospect of a minority or coalition government. Investors had been hoping the AKP would squeak out enough votes to remain in power as a single party and avoid the uncertainty and gridlock of coalition politics. "The loss of the AKP's 13-year-long single-party parliamentary majority in today's Turkish election represents one of the most dramatic political developments in emerging markets in recent years," said Nicholas Spiro of Spiro Sovereign Strategy. |
| Turkish PM says AK Party clear winner in parliament election Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:12 PM PDT Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Sunday that the AK Party was the clear winner in a parliamentary election and vowed to take all necessary measures to prevent harm to Turkey's political stability. "Everyone should see that the AKP is the winner and leader of these elections," Davutoglu said in a speech to supporters from the balcony of the AKP headquarters in Ankara. |
| Soldier who killed 16 Afghans says he was 'consumed by war' Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:08 PM PDT TACOMA, Washington (AP) — The U.S. soldier who murdered 16 Afghan villagers in 2012 says he had lost compassion for Iraqis and Afghans over the course of his four combat deployments. |
| Backlash grows as Italy migrant arrivals top 50,000 Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:03 PM PDT  Italy's wealthy North vowed Sunday that it would refuse to accommodate any more migrants as thousands more were rescued in the Mediterranean by a multinational flotilla of ships. As another frantic weekend of rescues unfolded, nearly 6,000 people were plucked to safety from packed fishing boats and rubber dinghies off Libya. All those rescued will be deposited at Sicilian ports or elsewhere in southern Italy in the coming days, lifting this year's total of new arrivals on Italian soil to more than 50,000, as complaints mount about the cost and other problems involved in processing the new arrivals.
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| Two dead in NE Nigeria suicide attack Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:03 PM PDT  A female suicide bomber killed two people and injured four others in northeast Nigeria, while two people were injured when a bomb exploded near a military checkpoint, police said on Sunday. "A female suicide bomber detonated an improvised explosive device strapped to her body along the Baga-Monguno highway, killing herself and two others on Saturday," said Borno state police commissioner Aderemi Opadokun. Opadokun said four other people were injured in the attack, which was the sixth in northeast Nigeria since Muhammadu Buhari took over as Nigeria's new president on May 29.
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| Closed for business: Asia's human smugglers go to ground Posted: 07 Jun 2015 02:00 PM PDT  By Aubrey Belford SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - The rickety internet huts have fallen silent in the crowded camps of displaced Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar, no one comes anymore to bargain for the release of loved ones being held for ransom in Thailand and Malaysia. "Before, every day at least 10 to 15 people would come here to negotiate with human traffickers," said Tun Win, a young man who offers a video-call service from one of the bamboo and thatch huts, "Now, it's nothing." For now at least, the smugglers who preyed for years on the misery of Myanmar's Rohingya appear to be going out of business, and Asia's most acute migrant crisis since the 'boat people' exodus at the end of the Vietnam War is ebbing. Rohingya and their neighbors in Bangladesh, dreaming of a life free of persecution and poverty, were lured on to primitive boats in their thousands, taking perilous voyages from the southeast corner of the Bay of Bengal that they hoped would end with safety and jobs in Malaysia.
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| Barcelona to sign right back Aleix Vidal from Sevilla Posted: 07 Jun 2015 01:31 PM PDT BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona says it has reached an agreement with Sevilla for the transfer of Aleix Vidal. |
| Israel-Gaza crossings to reopen after brief closure Posted: 07 Jun 2015 01:23 PM PDT  Israel is to reopen border crossings to and from the Gaza Strip on Monday, the military said, after closing them in the wake of a Palestinian rocket attack. Israeli warplanes struck Gaza early Sunday for the second time in three days after cross-border rocket fire by an Islamic extremist group which is locked in a power struggle with Hamas, the de facto power in the strip. Saturday night's rocket attack caused no casualties.
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