| Wing part washed up on beach is from missing MH370, Malaysia confirms Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:06 PM PDT  By Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A piece of a wing that washed up on an Indian Ocean island beach last week was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, Malaysia said on Thursday, confirming the discovery of the first trace of the plane since it vanished last year. "Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Prime Minister Najib Razak said in an early morning televised address. "I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to do everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened," Najib said.
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| Migrant boat capsizes in Mediterranean, at least 25 dead Posted: 05 Aug 2015 11:51 AM PDT  By Philip Pullella and Steve Scherer ROME (Reuters) - A boat packed with up to 700 migrants capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya on Wednesday and many were feared dead, officials and aid agencies said. The Italian Coast Guard and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said about 400 people had been rescued and 25 bodies had been recovered so far, although it was still not clear exactly how many people were on board. UNHCR spokesman Federico Fossi said as many as 100 people may have been in the hull when the steel boat capsized as rescue ships approached it.
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| Diversion of aid ships in Yemen spreads fear of shortages Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:26 PM PDT  SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - Residents in the Yemeni capital Sanaa are stocking up on rare food and fuel supplies after the government in exile decided to divert aid ships from the Houthi rebel-held north to loyalist areas farther south. Sources in Yemen's government confirmed the move, though there has been no official announcement, and Yemen's exiled information minister said on Tuesday that commercial flights would be diverted from the capital to the southern port of Aden. A Saudi-led alliance has been bombing Yemen's dominant group since March in support of the country's exiled leadership, which now seeks to reestablish its base from Aden.
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| Obama defends Iran nuclear deal as U.S. diplomacy over war Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:03 PM PDT  By Julia Edwards and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama defended the U.S.-led international nuclear deal with Iran on Wednesday against a furious lobbying effort by political opponents and Israel and said abandoning the agreement would open up the prospect of war. Invoking the Cold War peacemaking initiatives of former U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, Obama said if Congress blocked the deal it would accelerate Tehran's path to a bomb and severely damage America's credibility. Obama said "alternatives to military actions will have been exhausted once we reject a hard-won diplomatic solution that the world almost unanimously supports." He added: "Let's not mince words.
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| Islamic State Egypt affiliate threaten to kill Croatian hostage in 48 hours: video Posted: 05 Aug 2015 01:42 PM PDT An online video, purportedly from Islamic State's Egypt affiliate, showed on Wednesday a Croatian hostage who said the group would kill him in 48 hours if Muslim women in Egyptian jails were not freed. Croatia's foreign ministry reported on July 24 that a group of armed men had abducted a Croatian citizen in Egypt, identified as T.S. In the video, titled "A Message to the Egyptian Government" and posted on online forums, a man is seen kneeling and wearing a short-sleeved orange jumpsuit -- clad like previous Western prisoners in Islamic State videos who were later killed. |
| U.N. vote likely Friday on Syria gas attacks blame: diplomats Posted: 05 Aug 2015 05:04 PM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council is likely to vote on Friday on a U.S. proposal to ask U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and the global chemical weapons watchdog to assemble a team of investigators to lay blame for toxic gas attacks in Syria, diplomats said. Attributing responsibility for chemical weapons attacks would pave the way for action by the 15-member Security Council. Russia - which has veto power on the council - is a Syrian ally and has protected President Bashar al-Assad's government from any U.N. action during the four-year civil war. |
| Japan marks 70th anniversary of Hiroshima atomic bombing Posted: 05 Aug 2015 05:07 PM PDT HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — Japan is marking the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. |
| Top Asian News at 12:00 a.m. GMT Posted: 05 Aug 2015 05:02 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A piece of a wing found washed up on Reunion Island last week is from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that vanished last year, Malaysia's prime minister announced early Thursday, saying he hoped the news would end the "unspeakable" uncertainty of the passengers' families. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 jetliner 515 days ago while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, has been one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Officials believed it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people aboard, but it is still unknown why the plane went down. |
| IS jihadists seize key Syrian town: monitor Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:58 PM PDT  Islamic State jihadists seized control of a key town in the central Syrian province of Homs overnight after heavy clashes with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad, a monitor said on Thursday. The violent group started the attack on Wednesday morning when three suicide bombers targeted pro-regime checkpoints at entrances to the city, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "IS seized Al-Qaryatain town in the southeastern countryside of Homs after violent clashes with pro-regime forces and loyalist fighters," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
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| Two more charged over diamond district heist Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:56 PM PDT  Two more people have been charged in relation to a daring theft of valuables in London's Hatton Garden diamond quarter, police said on Wednesday. Police said a man and woman would appear in court later this month, charged with section 327 of the proceeds of crime act 2002, which relates to the handling of criminal property.
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| Gunman killed in Nashville cinema attack Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:54 PM PDT  Police shot dead a gunman wearing a surgical mask and wielding a hatchet and pepper spray at a movie theater near Nashville on Wednesday, in terrifying echoes of two previous cinema shootings. It was not," Nashville police chief Steve Anderson told reporters. The shooter -- who police originally said was 51 -- entered the theater, where "Mad Max: Fury Road" was playing, and fired pepper spray at viewers before an officer burst in through the projection room, followed by a SWAT team.
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| High-profile kids charity shuts doors Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:50 PM PDT  Children's charity Kids Company abruptly closed on Wednesday after running out of money, leaving thousands of young people without services. The charity, run by high-profile founder Camila Batmanghelidjh, provided counselling, meals and education for disadvantaged young people and was heavily reliant on public funding. It shut after allegations of financial mismanagement and a police investigation into allegations that incidents involving young people using the charity were not passed on to police.
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| Saipan has no water, electricity in aftermath of typhoon Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:46 PM PDT  HONOLULU (AP) — Residents of Saipan were without water and electricity and are rationing gasoline four days after Typhoon Soudelor hit the most populated island in the U.S. territory of the Northern Marianas.
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| Conservationists file legal action to block Arizona wild horse round-up Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:38 PM PDT By David Schwartz PHOENIX (Reuters) - Conservationists in Arizona sought a federal court order on Wednesday to block the U.S. Forest Service from rounding up about 100 wild horses roaming on public land that officials said are a public safety hazard. Lawyers for the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group said they were seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent land managers from violating federal rules designed to protect the historic horses in the Tonto National Forest, about 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Phoenix. The action was filed in response to a public notice of intent from the forest service, which set the stage for the horses to be rounded up and taken away effective on Friday. |
| Stosur likes odds as Serena Grand Slam spoiler Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:28 PM PDT  Samantha Stosur, the last woman to beat Serena Williams at the US Open, likes her chances of disrupting the American star's calendar Grand Slam bid if she gets the chance. "No doubt she is going to be feeling the pressure, as much as you can when you've won four Slams in a row and going for a fifth," Stosur said. Coming off a clay-court title at Bad Gastein, second seed Stosur advanced to the quarter-finals of the WTA and ATP Washington Open with a 6-1, 7-5 victory Wednesday over American Irina Falconi.
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| Brussels' 'Manneken Pis' goes under the microscope Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:20 PM PDT  The Belgian capital's emblematic Manneken Pis statue of a little boy taking a very public leak, beloved by millions of tourists, is getting a thorough examination to prove whether he is the real deal. The small statue standing about 60 centimetres (23 inches) tall in a fountain in the heart of Brussels has suffered many indignities since he was first put up in the early 1600s, prompting the authorities to replace it with a replica in the 1960s. The original is supposedly in the nearby Brussels Museum where it was lovingly restored in 2003 but researchers now think the little cherubic bronze they have there may not be the genuine article after all.
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| Malaysian leader: Debris found on island is from Flight 370 Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:13 PM PDT  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A piece of a wing found washed up on Reunion Island last week is from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that vanished last year, Malaysia's prime minister announced early Thursday, saying he hoped the news would end the "unspeakable" uncertainty of the passengers' families.
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| Wreckage 'conclusively confirmed' as from MH370: Malaysia PM Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:04 PM PDT  Debris found on Reunion Island a week ago is from flight MH370, Malaysia's prime minister said Thursday, confirming that the plane which mysteriously disappeared 17 months ago met a tragic end in the Indian Ocean. "Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a very heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts has conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Najib Razak told reporters. Last week's discovery of a two-metre-long (almost seven-foot) wing part called a flaperon on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion has provided the first glimmer of hope for relatives desperate for answers.
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| US driver who killed newlywed won't get new trial Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:04 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) — The driver who killed an Italian honeymooner and injured 17 pedestrians when he plowed through a crowded boardwalk two years ago lost his bid for a new trial Wednesday after a judge rejected claims that juror misconduct prevented a fair trial. |
| Lopez beats Hewitt in 3 sets at Washington's Citi Open Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:03 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Feliciano Lopez ended Lleyton Hewitt's last appearance in the Citi Open with a 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 second-round victory Wednesday over the two-time major champion.
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| 4 dead, 4 wounded in new bus attack in El Salvador Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:02 PM PDT  SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Gunmen boarded a bus near the Salvadoran capital and opened fire Wednesday, killing four people and wounding four others a week after a string of bus attacks brought service to a halt.
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| Few changes at Chelsea for title defense as rivals spend big Posted: 05 Aug 2015 04:00 PM PDT  After a summer of a sleaze at FIFA, it's time for an even richer force in world football to take center stage: The English Premier League.
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| Argentina leader defends Cabinet chief accused in crime Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:56 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's president defended her Cabinet chief Wednesday against a media report that implicated him as the mastermind in the killing of three men allegedly connected to an ephedrine trafficking ring. |
| Long-lost Argentine grandson looks back on turbulent year Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:36 PM PDT  A year after learning he was the stolen baby that Argentina's most famous grandmother had sought for decades, Ignacio Montoya Carlotto said Wednesday he is still sorting through the fallout but happy to know his identity. On August 5 last year, Montoya Carlotto -- who was then called Ignacio Hurban -- received a phone call informing him that DNA tests had found he was the grandson of Estela Carlotto, the leader of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo. Carlotto's group was founded to search for the estimated 500 babies taken from political prisoners during Argentina's 1976-1983 military dictatorship.
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| Obama warns rejecting Iran deal would spell war Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:24 PM PDT  President Barack Obama made an aggressive case for his signature nuclear deal with Iran Wednesday, telling lawmakers that rejecting diplomacy would lead to war and destroy US credibility. Casting it as "the most consequential foreign policy debate" since the Iraq War, Obama said Congress must not waver under pressure from critics whom history had already proven wrong. "Congressional rejection of this deal leaves any US administration that is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon with one option: another war in the Middle East," he said.
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| Arrest in killing of journalist, four women in Mexico Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:22 PM PDT  A man with a violent criminal past has been arrested as a suspect in the death of news photographer Ruben Espinosa in a gory five-victim homicide, Mexican prosecutors said Wednesday. The male suspect, whose name was not immediately made public, was identified by investigators with a fingerprint search that turned up a criminal record for rape and assault, prosecutor Rodolfo Rios told reporters. On Tuesday authorities released security camera footage that appears to show three men near the building where the killings took place in Mexico City.
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| IS threatens to execute Croatian abducted in Egypt Posted: 05 Aug 2015 03:04 PM PDT  Egypt's affiliate of the Islamic State group threatened Wednesday to execute a Croatian kidnapped in Cairo last month within 48 hours if Muslim women jailed in Egypt are not freed. The man is the first foreigner to be abducted and threatened with death by militants in Egypt since an Islamist insurgency erupted two years ago. In a video posted online by the jihadists, the Croatian identifies himself as Tomislav Salopek working for French geoscience company CGG, and appears kneeling at the feet of a hooded man holding a knife.
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| Fears of more violence haunt village where Palestinian child killed Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:51 PM PDT  The pre-dawn firebombing Friday, which killed Ali Saad Dawabsha and critically injured his parents and four-year-old brother, has intensified the concerns of residents who say they have long lived in fear of attack. The graffiti was indicative of so-called "price tag" violence -- a euphemism for nationalist-motivated hate crimes by Jewish extremists. "Two years ago, they burnt some cars here in the village," said 33-year-old resident Mohammed Dawabsha.
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| Toothless Chelsea beaten by Fiorentina Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:49 PM PDT  The paucity of Chelsea's striking options was once again laid bare on Wednesday as they finished their pre-season preparations with a lacklustre 1-0 loss at home to Fiorentina. Visiting captain Gonzalo Rodriguez bundled in the only goal in the 34th minute at Stamford Bridge and with Diego Costa once again absent due to hamstring trouble, Jose Mourinho's side toiled in attack as they went a fifth consecutive game without victory. Radamel Falcao and Loic Remy squandered another chance to prove themselves as understudies for the absent Costa, leaving Mourinho with food for thought ahead of the start of his side's Premier League title defence at home to Swansea City on Saturday.
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| NASA says it needs $490 million for seats on Russian rockets Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:47 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA is asking Congress for another half billion dollars to pay Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station. |
| Arrest made in case of slain Mexican journalist, 4 women Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:47 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Exiled from the coastal state where he felt threatened for his work, photojournalist Ruben Espinosa still was on edge in Mexico City.
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| Property losses from northern California wildfire nearly double Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:37 PM PDT  The tally of property losses from California's most destructive wildfire this year nearly doubled on Wednesday as the week-old blaze raged on through dry scrubland north of Napa Valley wine country. The higher damage figures from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire) coincided with an ominous U.S. Forest Service report that more than half its total budget is, for the first time, being spent on fire suppression across the country. The agency's rising expenditures reflect an extraordinary wildfire season experienced this summer in California and several other Western states - including Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Alaska - in the midst of a widespread and prolonged drought.
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| Over 200 migrants feared drowned off Libya Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:29 PM PDT  Over 200 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean were feared to have drowned Wednesday after their overcrowded fishing boat capsized off Libya. The boat, believed to have been carrying over 600 migrants including women and children, ran into difficulty about 15 nautical miles off Libya and sent out a distress call, which was picked up by the coastguard in Sicily. Coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini said around 400 people had been rescued from the water while 25 bodies had been recovered.
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| Officials exit Haiti gov't over president's remarks to woman Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:24 PM PDT  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A hostile comment made by Haitian President Michel Martelly at a campaign rally has set off an uproar in his coalition government, leading a politically allied party to announce the resignation of three officials from his administration Wednesday.
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| Shot put star Valerie Adams to miss world champs Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:15 PM PDT WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's Valerie Adams will not defend her shot put title at this month's world championships as she is struggling to recover from shoulder and elbow surgery. |
| Refugee children at risk in migration-overwhelmed Greece Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:12 PM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of child refugees and migrants entering Greece are at risk of exploitation and disease as local authorities are overwhelmed by the wave of immigration, an international charity said Wednesday. |
| UN Security Council says C. Africa must let refugees vote Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:07 PM PDT  The UN Security Council said Wednesday that refugees from the Central African Republic must be allowed to vote in key elections set for October, the first since the country descended into bloodshed in 2013. It should include every citizen of the Central African Republic," Nigerian Ambassador Joy Ogwu told reporters following a council meeting. Presidential and parliamentary elections are set for October 18 in the Central African Republic, which exploded into sectarian violence following a 2013 coup that pitted mainly Muslim rebels against Christian militias.
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| Bayern beats Real Madrid 1-0 to win Audi Cup friendly Posted: 05 Aug 2015 02:04 PM PDT  MUNICH (AP) — Robert Lewandowski scored a late winner to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in the final of the preseason Audi Cup on Wednesday.
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