| Delivery man beheads boss in suspected Islamist attack on French gas site Posted: 26 Jun 2015 01:23 PM PDT  By Catherine Lagrange and Michel Rose SAINT-QUENTIN FALLAVIER, France (Reuters) - A delivery man with known Islamist connections beheaded his boss and left the body, daubed with Arabic writing, at the site of a U.S.-owned gas factory in southeast France before trying to blow up the complex. "The head was discovered hanging on the factory's wire fence, framed by two flags that included references to the shahada, or (Muslim) profession of faith," Paris public prosecutor Francois Molins told a news conference. France is still coming to terms with attacks by Islamist gunmen who killed 17 people in January at a satirical weekly newspaper and a Jewish food store.
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| Gunman kills 39 at Tunisian beachside hotel, Islamic State claims attack Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:50 PM PDT  By Tarek Amara SOUSSE, Tunisia (Reuters) - A gunman disguised as a tourist opened fire at a Tunisian hotel on Friday with a rifle he had hidden in an umbrella, killing 39 people including Britons, Germans and Belgians as they lounged at the beach in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Terrified tourists ran for cover after the gunfire and an explosion erupted at the Imperial Marhaba in Sousse, 140 km (90 miles) south of the capital Tunis, before police shot the gunman dead, witnesses and security officials said. "He started on the beach and went to the lobby, killing in cold blood." The attack took place during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, on a day in which a decapitated body daubed with Arabic writing was found in France, a suicide bomber killed two dozen people at a mosque in Kuwait and at least 145 civilians were reported killed by Islamic State militants in northern Syria.
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| U.S. compares China's South China Sea moves to Russia's in Ukraine Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:16 PM PDT  The U.S. State Department's number two diplomat on Friday compared China's behavior in pursuit of territory in the South China Sea to that of Russia in eastern Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken called China's large scale reclamation projects in the South China Sea, "a threat to peace and stability." He said the United States took no position on the merits of competing claims in the disputed sea, but had a strong interest in how those were pursued, and in preserving freedom of navigation. "The way forward is for China, and all claimants, to freeze their reclamation activities and resolve their difference in accordance the rule of law," he said.
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| Islamic State kills at least 145 civilians in Syria's Kobani Posted: 26 Jun 2015 09:46 AM PDT  By Sylvia Westall and Tom Perry BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as one of the worst massacres carried out by the hardline group in Syria. Islamic State pressed a separate assault to capture government-held parts of the northeastern city of Hasaka, blowing up a security building and triggering a government appeal for all residents to take up arms. The United Nations said 60,000 people were reported to have fled the attack.
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| Kerry, Zarif to discuss Iran nuclear deal as deadline approaches: U.S. official Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:03 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Parisa Hafezi VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers will meet on Saturday, a senior U.S. official said, as major differences persist over an agreement under which Iran would curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will sit down in the Austrian capital ahead of Tuesday's self-imposed deadline, which many officials expect to slip. Significant gaps remain, notably over the sequencing of economic sanctions relief for Iran and the nature of monitoring mechanisms to ensure Tehran does not cheat on any agreement.
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| Coordinated or not, attacks show Islamic State's growing reach Posted: 26 Jun 2015 02:02 PM PDT  By Mark Hosenball and Mark Trevelyan LONDON (Reuters) - The attacks came one after the other in the space of a few hours. In France, a decapitated body covered in Arabic writing was found after an attacker rammed his car into a gas container, triggering an explosion. In Kuwait, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a packed Shi'ite mosque during Friday prayers, killing more than two dozen.
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| Report: Islamic State claims credit for attack in Tunisia Posted: 26 Jun 2015 05:12 PM PDT  SOUSSE, Tunisia (AP) — The SITE Intelligence Group is reporting that the Islamic State group has claimed credit for the attack at a Tunisian resort that killed at least 37 people.
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| Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 26 Jun 2015 05:02 PM PDT PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (AP) — China is pressing ahead with the construction of artificial islands on at least two reefs that are also claimed by the Philippines in an increasingly tense territorial dispute, Filipino officials said Friday, despite Beijing's pronouncement that some work would end soon. Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon of Kalayaan islands, which are under Philippine control, said he saw Chinese construction in full swing with many dredgers and huge cranes visible when he flew last week near Subi Reef. |
| Watson maintains lead after second round of Travelers Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:59 PM PDT  CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Bubba Watson shot a 3-under 67 on Friday to maintain a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Travelers Championship.
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| Detroit's Datsyuk has surgery on ankle Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:43 PM PDT DETROIT (AP) — Pavel Datsyuk had surgery on his right ankle and is expected to be re-evaluated in three months. |
| No surprise: Connor McDavid goes No. 1 in NHL draft Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:37 PM PDT  SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Connor McDavid's favorite hockey player is Sidney Crosby. His favorite non-skating athlete is LeBron James.
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| Wildfires threaten thousands of homes in Southern California Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:34 PM PDT  By Victoria Cavaliere LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two wildfires burning in parched forestland east of Los Angeles threatened thousands of structures on Friday as crews battled to contain the blazes before shifts in the wind pushed them into new territory, officials said. Other evacuation orders could be issued if the fires continued to expand, it said. The blazes are among hundreds of separate wildfires burning from Alaska to Arizona as the U.S. West enters a wildfire season that experts fear could be especially destructive due to a crippling drought in California and parts of the Southwest and low snowpack in the Pacific Northwest.
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| Dominican Republic says 17,000 Haitians return voluntarily Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:33 PM PDT  More than 17,000 undocumented Haitians have voluntarily left the Dominican Republic since the end of a controversial registration process that left thousands of people facing deportation, officials said Friday. The Dominican Republic gave undocumented immigrants, the vast majority of whom are from impoverished Haiti, until June 17 to register with the authorities or face deportation. Of those, 17,456 have so far left for Haiti voluntarily, said the director general of the Dominican immigration authority, Ruben Paulino.
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| New York escaped convict shot dead by police Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:32 PM PDT  A convicted killer who broke out of a maximum-security New York prison three weeks ago was shot dead by a law enforcement officer Friday, police said, as they continued to hunt for his fellow escapee. Richard Matt, 49, was killed in the upstate town of Malone, less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Canada border, New York state police said. Officers were still hunting for 35-year-old David Sweat, Matt's accomplice in the spectacular, Hollywood-style prison break from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6, about 40 miles from Malone.
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| Greek prime minister puts bailout deal to referendum July 5 Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:09 PM PDT  ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's prime minister on Friday called a surprise referendum for July 5 on the financially troubled country's fraught bailout talks with international creditors, and government officials are calling on the nation to reject the proposed deal.
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| Ganassi's Dixon keeping pace with Team Penske drivers Posted: 26 Jun 2015 04:04 PM PDT FONTANA, Calif. (AP) — Scott Dixon won on the street course at Sonoma last season and took the checkers on the streets of Long Beach this spring. |
| Azerbaijani troops kill Armenian soldier: Armenian gov't Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:59 PM PDT  Azerbaijani troops on Friday killed an Armenian soldier in the latest border clash between the arch-foes who are locked in a longstanding conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, Armenia said. "Today (Friday), Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire," at the Caucasus neighbours' shared border, Armenian Defence Ministry spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisyan, told AFP. Azerbaijani officials were not available for immediate comment.
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| U.N. council told sound of helicopters has Syrians 'watching for death' Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:59 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The sound of whirring helicopter blades fills Syrians with fear that "hell and fire" is about fall in a barrel bomb, a rescue worker told the United Nations Security Council on Friday as pressure mounts for the body to take action to stop civilian killings in Syria. "This sound means watching for death," said Raed Saleh, head of the Syrian Civil Defence, an organization of rescue workers known as white helmets who rush to the site of bomb and mortar attacks to dig through rubble for survivors. In the past week U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, 71 U.N. states and some 80 aid and human rights groups have urged the Security Council to act on the killing of civilians.
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| Dozens killed in grisly attacks during Ramadan Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:56 PM PDT  From a mass shooting at a Tunisian beach resort to a severed head displayed in a French town, a wave of grisly attacks Friday shocked the world days after the Islamic State group urged supporters to carry out Ramadan attacks. There was no apparent link between the attacks, but IS claimed a suicide bombing at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait in which 25 people were killed, and Islamist flags were found at the site of the French attack. The IS jihadists were also accused by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights of killing 146 civilians in an offensive on the Kurdish town of Kobane.
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| United Nations charter, signed in San Francisco, turns 70 Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:54 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Hundreds of people packed the rotunda of San Francisco City Hall to mark the 70th birthday of the signing of the United Nations charter.
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| Morgan and Rodriguez up top, Wambach on the bench Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:53 PM PDT  OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Alex Morgan and Amy Rodridguez were starting up top for the United States for the Women's World Cup quarterfinal match against China on Friday night.
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| MH17 tribunal idea is 'counterproductive': Russian official Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:52 PM PDT  A senior Russian official on Friday rejected calls for the establishment of a UN tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine last year. "We are against it," deputy foreign minister Gennadiy Gatilov was reported by Russian news agencies as saying. The Netherlands, Malaysia and three other countries want a UN tribunal to investigate the July 2014 crash, which killed all 298 people passengers and crew.
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| Germany beats France in shootout to reach World Cup semis Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:50 PM PDT  MONTREAL (AP) — Celia Sasic tied the score with an 84th minute, Nadine Angerer stopped Claire Lavogez in the final attempt of a shootout and Germany beat France 5-4 on penalty kicks after a 1-1 tie Friday night to reach the Women's World Cup semifinals.
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| 'Wolf in sheep's clothing': Suspect in French attack Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:47 PM PDT  Yassin Salhi was a quiet man with a job, a family and no criminal record before he allegedly launched a grisly assault at an industrial gas factory in France and pinned his boss's severed head to the fence on Friday. Earlier this year he began working as a delivery driver.
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| Tunisia beach resort massacre kills 39 Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:40 PM PDT  A man pulled a gun hidden inside a beach umbrella and opened fire at a packed holiday resort Friday, massacring 39 people in Tunisia's worst attack in recent history. The carnage at the popular Mediterranean resort of Port el Kantaoui came the same day a suicide bomber killed 27 people at a Shiite mosque in Kuwait and a suspected Islamist attacked a factory in France. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Tunisia attack, but the Islamic State group, which Monday marks the first anniversary of its "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria, said it bombed the Kuwait mosque.
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| Greek minister calls on nation to reject bailout deal Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:27 PM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece's development minister is urging the nation to vote against the country's bailout deal with international creditors in a July 5 referendum. |
| World leaders condemn string of 'barbaric' attacks Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:26 PM PDT  US and UN leaders led an international chorus of outrage and condemnation after a string of suspected Islamist attacks in France, Kuwait and Tunisia Friday left dozens dead. The White House expressed solidarity and vowed to "fight the scourge of terrorism," offering all three countries "any necessary support". Aides said US President Barack Obama was being regularly briefed on the attacks, which spanned continents and happened during the Muslim day of prayer in the holy month of Ramadan.
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| The artificial turf at the World Cup is still raising issues Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:23 PM PDT  OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — The fields are heating up, there are little black rubber pellets everywhere, and feet are covered with blisters.
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| African Union demands Britain release Rwanda spy chief Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:21 PM PDT  The African Union has called for the "unconditional and immediate" release of Rwanda's intelligence chief arrested in Britain, Rwandan's foreign minister said Friday after meetings with the 54-member bloc. General Karenzi Karake, who was arrested on a Spanish-issued warrant last week, was released in London on Thursday on bail of £1.0 million ($1.6 million, 1.4 million euros).
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| Leahy heads US Senate delegation to Cuba ahead of embassies Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:14 PM PDT  HAVANA (AP) — A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators was in Cuba on Friday to meet with top government officials and others to discuss rapprochement between the two countries.
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| Greek prime minister sets referendum for July 5 on bailout deal with creditors Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:10 PM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek prime minister sets referendum for July 5 on bailout deal with creditors. |
| Latin American women fight back against harassment Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:10 PM PDT  Every day, Sara Velez, a Colombian law student, walks to class through a hail of catcalls that often veer into obscenity, a daily reality that Latin American women are increasingly fighting. The "piropos," or "compliments," that men shout at passing women are an old tradition in Latin America, defended by some as a sort of working man's street poetry. On the bus, in the subway, on the street -- sexual harassment, both verbal and physical, is an inescapable fact of life for many Latin American women.
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| Burundi envoy says elections will go ahead Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:06 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Burundi's U.N. ambassador said Friday that elections will go ahead over the next month, saying 95 percent of the country wants to vote and not remain hostage to a "radical minority" that keeps seeking postponements.
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| SpaceX capsule to deliver new parking spot for space station Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:01 PM PDT  CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — SpaceX stands ready to launch a much-needed load of supplies to the International Space Station this weekend on the heels of a failed supply run by Russia.
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| Kuwait beefs up security around oil installations after attack: KNPC spokesman Posted: 26 Jun 2015 03:01 PM PDT KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait has reinforced security around oil installations following a suicide bombing that had killed 27 people at a Shi'ite Muslim mosque, a spokesman for the state-run Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) said on Friday. Khaled al-Asousi said that precautionary measures had long been in place around oil installations in Kuwait. But he said that in light of Friday's bombing, "extra monitoring and searches" were being taken to increase security at these facilities. (Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy, writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Chris Reese) |
| How the Dow Jones industrial average fared on Friday Posted: 26 Jun 2015 02:56 PM PDT Stocks had a mixed day Friday as investors waited for negotiators to finish their work on a solution to Greece's debt problems. The Dow Jones industrial average got a big boost from Nike, which rose more than 4 percent after posting strong quarterly results. |
| Tunisian holiday turns into horror for tourists Posted: 26 Jun 2015 02:54 PM PDT  Three blood-soaked bodies lay amid a jumble of flip-flops and beach towels by the edge of the hotel pool in the Tunisian resort where a gunman killed 37 people Friday. At least 36 more were wounded in the carnage at the Riu Imperial Marhaba Hotel in Port el Kantaoui, a popular destination for foreign tourists on the outskirts of Sousse south of the capital. A Tunisian student posing as a beachgoer pulled an assault rifle from under a beach umbrella and mowed down holidaymakers on lounge chairs soaking up the summer sun, officials said.
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