| Iraqi army storms to edge of Islamic State-held Falluja; fresh bombings hit Baghdad Posted: 30 May 2016 07:37 AM PDT  By Maher Nazeh and Saif Hameed SOUTHERN OUTSKIRTS OF FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Iraqi army stormed to the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air support on Monday and captured a police station inside the city limits, launching a direct assault to retake one of the main strongholds of Islamic State militants. A Reuters TV crew about a mile (about 1.5 km) from the city's edge said explosions and gunfire were ripping through Naimiya, a largely rural district of Falluja on its southern outskirts. An elite military unit, the Rapid Response Team, seized the district's police station at midday, state TV reported.
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| Japan puts military on alert for possible North Korea missile launch Posted: 30 May 2016 02:54 PM PDT  TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) - Japan put its military on alert on Monday for a possible North Korean ballistic missile firing, while South Korea also said it had detected evidence of launch preparations, officials from Japan and South Korea said. Tension in the region has been high since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test in January and followed that with a satellite launch and test launches of various missiles. Japan ordered naval destroyers and Patriot anti-ballistic missile batteries to be ready to shoot down any projectile heading for the country, state broadcaster NHK said.
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| Libyan oil guard says captures coastal town from Islamic State after clashes Posted: 30 May 2016 01:37 PM PDT By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A force that controls oil terminals in eastern Libya said it had captured the town of Ben Jawad from Islamic State, pushing the militant group back along a coastal strip they control east of their stronghold of Sirte. Spokesman Ali al-Hassi said five Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) fighters had been killed and 18 wounded in fierce clashes in the coastal town, and that fighting was continuing in the nearby town of Nawfiliyah. A Ben Jawad resident told Reuters that PFG forces had entered the town and were combing the area to secure it. |
| Netanyahu says willing to discuss Arab initiative for peace with Palestinians Posted: 30 May 2016 02:17 PM PDT  By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held out the prospect on Monday of reviving a 2002 Arab peace initiative that offers Israel diplomatic recognition from Arab countries in return for a statehood deal with the Palestinians. Netanyahu's comments were a formal response to a speech last week by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who promised Israel warmer ties if it accepted efforts to resume peace talks. "The Arab peace initiative includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians," Netanyahu said, echoing comments he made a year ago to Israeli reporters.
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| Heavy air strikes on Syria's Idlib kill and injure dozens: monitor Posted: 30 May 2016 02:48 PM PDT  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Heavy air strikes in Syria's rebel-held city of Idlib on Monday evening killed and injured more than 150 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The war monitor said it believed the planes were Russian. At least seven strikes hit the western Syrian city, it added. Some struck the area where the national hospital is located, the war monitor said, noting that it did not think the strikes hit the hospital itself. (Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Richard Chang)
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| Brother of Paris attacker on trial over militant training Posted: 30 May 2016 03:04 PM PDT  By Chine Labbé PARIS (Reuters) - Seven people went on trial in Paris on Monday accused of traveling to Syria to train as militant fighters, among them the brother of one of the militants who killed 130 people in the French capital last November. The seven, aged from 24 to 27, face up to 10 years in jail if found guilty of taking part in an Islamist recruitment network and receiving training in Syria from Islamic State. The accused, friends from eastern France, were part of a larger number who in December 2013 traveled to Syria, where two of them died.
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| Mexican soccer player Alan Pulido overpowered kidnappers Posted: 30 May 2016 04:36 PM PDT  CIUDAD VICTORIA, Mexico (AP) — About 24 hours after he was kidnapped, Mexican soccer star Alan Pulido found himself alone with one of his captors and saw his chance. He wrestled away the man's pistol and his cellphone and dialed Mexico's emergency number.
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| Nigeria's Buhari to visit restive Niger Delta region this week Posted: 30 May 2016 04:25 PM PDT  By Felix Onuah and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu ABUJA/ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari will on Thursday visit the Niger Delta region, rocked by attacks on oil and gas facilities, for the first time since taking office a year ago, an official said on Monday. The visit was announced as the Niger Delta Avengers militant group, which has claimed a string of recent attacks, issued a warning to oil firms in the southern region that their "facilities and personnel will bear the brunt of our fury," according to a statement. Buhari said on Sunday said the government would hold talks with leaders in Nigeria's main oil-producing region to address their grievances, in a bid to stop a surge in pipeline attacks.
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| Brazil's transparency chief quits over corruption probe tape Posted: 30 May 2016 04:23 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Leaked recordings of heavyweight politicians discussing Brazil's sprawling kickback scandal caused more headaches for acting President Michel Temer on Monday, with a new tape forcing his anti-corruption minister to quit.
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| Nigeria: Security forces kill oil militants, separatists Posted: 30 May 2016 04:10 PM PDT  WARRI, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian security forces clashed with oil militants and Biafran secessionists in separate bloody confrontations Monday that killed at least 20 civilians and two police officers, officials and witnesses. The violence erupted in Nigeria's restive south as the military mounted an offensive in the oil rich south-central Niger Delta and separatists protested in the southeast.
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| Maduro camp cries fraud in Venezuela recall vote drive Posted: 30 May 2016 04:09 PM PDT  Allies of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused his opponents Monday of fraud in their petition for a vote on removing him from office, saying 10,000 people who supposedly signed it are dead. With Venezuela mired in a punishing economic crisis, Maduro's opponents are racing to fulfill the requirements to call a recall referendum against him. "I state with full responsibility that at this time we have detected 10,000 deceased people signing," said Jorge Rodriguez, the head of a commission appointed by Maduro to oversee the process.
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| Egypt journalist union chiefs charged with harboring wanted colleagues Posted: 30 May 2016 04:07 PM PDT Egyptian prosecutors on Monday ordered the head of the journalists union and two board members to be tried on charges of harboring colleagues wanted by the law, judicial sources said, a move that drew condemnation from rights groups. The trial of Yehia Qalash, Khaled al-Balshy, and Gamal Abdel Rahim will begin on Saturday at a Cairo misdemeanors court, the judicial sources said. The charges of harboring fugitives and spreading false news about a police raid of the union premises carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail, according to a legal expert. |
| Bourdy leads 13 qualifiers; Harrington falls out Posted: 30 May 2016 03:49 PM PDT SURREY, England (AP) — Gregory Bourdy of France shot 67-68 at Walton Heath on Monday and led 13 players who earned spots at the U.S. Open qualifier in England. |
| Brazilian police: Gang rape happened but tests are not proof Posted: 30 May 2016 03:44 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Police investigating a gang rape possibly involving more than 30 men said Monday that they have no doubt the assault happened but that tests on the 16-year-old victim were done too late to provide conclusive evidence.
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| Kenya wins men's, women's team competition at Bolder Boulder Posted: 30 May 2016 03:37 PM PDT  BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Isaac Mukundi won the Bolder Boulder 10-kilmeter race Monday as he led Kenya to the international team crown.
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| Argentina's Macri to repatriate $1.3 million from Bahamas Posted: 30 May 2016 03:26 PM PDT  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — President Mauricio Macri said Monday that he will repatriate $1.3 million in savings from the Bahamas and use the money to buy Argentine treasury bonds because he is confident the struggling economy will recover and thrive.
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| Head of Egypt's journalists union to stand trial Posted: 30 May 2016 03:25 PM PDT  CAIRO (AP) — Prosecutors on Monday referred the head of Egypt's journalists union and two board members to trial after they were formally charged with spreading false news and harboring journalists wanted by authorities.
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| Payet helps Euro hosts France past Cameroon Posted: 30 May 2016 03:07 PM PDT  West Ham's Dimitri Payet scored a last-gasp wonder free-kick to help Euro 2016 hosts France snatch a dramatic 3-2 victory over Cameroon on Monday. The attacking midfielder stepped up on the stroke of regulation time to curl a magnificent free-kick past Cameroon goalkeeper Fabrice Ondoa. France opened the scoring through Paris Saint-Germain's Blaise Matuidi before Cameroon immediately drew level thanks to Porto striker Vincent Aboubakar.
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| Pueblo shield withdrawn from Paris artifacts auction Posted: 30 May 2016 03:00 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — A French auction house withdrew a Pueblo shield from a contested sale of Native American artifacts Monday after protests from the United States.
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| Ash and debris delays return for 2,000 Fort McMurray evacuees Posted: 30 May 2016 02:59 PM PDT  By Nia Williams CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Some 2,000 residents of wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray, Alberta, will not be able to return home this week as planned because of the risks posed by debris and contaminants including "caustic" ash, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said on Monday. It also forced around a dozen oil sands projects in the region to halt more than a million barrels per day of crude oil production. With the 580,000 hectare wildfire now burning away from populated areas, provincial government officials are planning to let residents start returning to Fort McMurray on June 1 in a phased re-entry program.
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| Contamination delays return for 9,000 Canada wildfire evacuees Posted: 30 May 2016 02:56 PM PDT  Chemical and heavy metal contamination will delay the return of 9,000 residents from Canada's oil sands region who fled a huge wildfire about a month ago, senior officials announced Monday. Most of the homes in these neighborhoods were burned to the ground when fires swept through at the beginning of May. Tests of air, soil and ash in these neighborhoods revealed the presence of chemicals "that are a risk to residents exposed to them," she said.
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| Payet's superb late free kick helps France beat Cameroon 3-2 Posted: 30 May 2016 02:56 PM PDT  NANTES, France (AP) — Dimitri Payet scored a brilliant last-minute free kick as European Championship host France beat Cameroon 3-2 in a friendly Monday.
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| South Korea detects sign of possible planned North Korea missile launch Posted: 30 May 2016 02:54 PM PDT South Korea has detected evidence of a possible planned North Korea missile launch, a defense official said on Monday, after Japan put its military on alert for a ballistic missile launch by the isolated state. The South Korean defense official declined to comment on what type of missile might be launched but South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said officials believe it would be an intermediate-range Musudan missile. North Korea made three failed launch attempts of the Musudan in April, according to U.S. and South Korean officials. |
| Big cats removed from Thailand's infamous Tiger Temple Posted: 30 May 2016 02:51 PM PDT  By Patpicha Tanakasempipat KANCHANABURI, Thailand (Reuters) - Wildlife authorities in Thailand on Monday raided a Buddhist temple where tigers are kept, taking away three of the animals and vowing to confiscate scores more in response to global pressure over wildlife trafficking. The Buddhist temple in Kanchanaburi province west of Bangkok has more than 100 tigers and has become a tourist destination where visitors take selfies with tigers and bottle-feed their cubs. The temple promotes itself as a wildlife sanctuary, but in recent years it has been investigated for suspected links to wildlife trafficking and animal abuse.
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| Support for Britain to stay in the EU narrows in ORB poll: Daily Telegraph Posted: 30 May 2016 02:50 PM PDT  (Reuters) - Support for Britain to stay in the European Union stood at 51 percent, five points ahead of support for a withdrawal from the 28-member bloc but down from a 13-point lead a week ago, an ORB poll for the Daily Telegraph said. Writing in the newspaper Lynton Crosby, the political strategist behind Prime Minister David Cameron's election victory, said the campaign focus on migration over the past seven days had boosted the Leave campaign.
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| German govt slams racist slur on football star Boateng Posted: 30 May 2016 02:41 PM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman on Monday condemned the claim by a right-wing politician that most Germans would not want footballer Jerome Boateng, whose father is Ghanaian, as their neighbour. "This sentence, which has come out, is vile and sad," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told a press briefing in Berlin. Seibert was reacting to a remark by Alexander Gauland, deputy leader of right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who told a Sunday newspaper: "People find him good, but they don't want to have a Boateng as a neighbour".
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| French gardener jailed for British lover's murder Posted: 30 May 2016 02:32 PM PDT  A French court on Monday sentenced a gardener to 30 years in jail, with no possibility of parole for 20 years, for the murder of his British former boss and lover. Jean-Louis Cayrou, 54, was convicted of murdering Patricia Wilson at her home near the southwestern city of Toulouse, in an act portrayed as the work of a "jealous" man who could not accept that Wilson had ended their relationship. Although police found her clothes and traces of blood, Wilson's body was never found.
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| Mexico footballer Alan Pulido freed after fighting kidnapper Posted: 30 May 2016 02:31 PM PDT  Mexican football player Alan Pulido was rescued after he untied himself, fought one of his kidnappers and took away his phone to call police hours after his abduction, authorities said Monday. Pulido, 25, cut his right wrist when he punched a glass pane on a door as he tried to flee before police saved him at a home in his northeastern hometown of Ciudad Victoria late Sunday, Tamaulipas state prosecutor Ismael Quintanilla said. Pulido, who plays for Greek giants Olympiakos and was part of Mexico's 2014 World Cup squad, was kidnapped late Saturday by four armed men as he returned from a party with his girlfriend in the crime-plagued region.
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| Ohio zoo defends shooting of gorilla after boy fell in enclosure Posted: 30 May 2016 02:30 PM PDT  By Ginny McCabe CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The director of the Cincinnati Zoo on Monday stood by the decision to shoot dead a gorilla as he dragged a 4-year-old boy around by the ankle, saying the ape was not simply endangering the child who fell into his enclosure but actually hurting him. "Looking back, we would make the same decision" to shoot the gorilla, Thayne Maynard, director of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, told a news conference. The gorilla was clearly disoriented," Maynard said, while lamenting the loss of Harambe, a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla, whose species is listed as endangered.
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| Tropical Depression Bonnie loses steam after dousing the Carolinas Posted: 30 May 2016 02:27 PM PDT Tropical Depression Bonnie dissipated on Monday after drenching the Carolinas and Virginia with rain and whipping up strong winds that ruined the holiday weekend plans of many beachgoers. Forecasters said they expected the storm to produce 1 to 3 inches of additional rainfall across eastern South Carolina, eastern North Carolina, and southeast Virginia, with isolated showers, the National Hurricane Center said. Bonnie came ashore just northeast of Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday morning, bringing heavy rains, minor flooding and sustained winds of about 30 miles per hour (48 kph). |
| Brazil's Temer pressed to drop anti-corruption minister Posted: 30 May 2016 02:25 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassu BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's interim President Michel Temer is facing pressure to drop his anti-corruption minister, the second top official in his administration accused of trying to derail a sprawling bribery and kickback probe before taking office. Transparency Minister Fabiano Silveira, the man tasked with fighting corruption, and Senate President Renan Calheiros became the latest officials ensnared by leaked recordings secretly made by a former oil industry executive as part of a plea bargain. A government source told Reuters on Monday that Silveira will stay in his job for now.
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| Chile's red tide outbreak recedes, giving fishermen a break Posted: 30 May 2016 02:23 PM PDT By Anthony Esposito SANTIAGO (Reuters) - An unusually widespread and deadly "red tide" outbreak in southern Chile's fishing-rich waters is abating, a top scientist said on Monday, giving some reprieve to communities that depend on the Pacific Ocean for their livelihoods. The red tide - an algal bloom that turns the sea water red and makes seafood toxic - is a common, naturally recurring phenomenon in southern Chile. "From the first analysis of the samples taken from the ocean around Chiloe island, we can conclude that the red tide phenomenon is receding," University of Concepcion investigator Laura Farias told reporters on a conference call. |
| Puerto Rico debates consequences of paying off debt Posted: 30 May 2016 02:11 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's budget director says the U.S. territory cannot pay off its debt and provide essential services at the same time. |
| Egypt investigates teenage girl's death during female circumcision operation Posted: 30 May 2016 02:09 PM PDT  Egyptian prosecutors are investigating the death of a teenage girl during a female circumcision operation at a private hospital, health ministry and prosecution officials said Monday. Seventeen-year-old Mayar Mohamed Mousa died in El Canal hospital on Sunday while under full anaesthesia in the province of Suez, said Lotfi Abdel-Samee, the health ministry undersecretary in the province. Despite the ban in 2008, female genital mutilation (FGM) is still widespread in Egypt, especially in rural areas.
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| Victims cheer Chad ex-dictator's life sentence Posted: 30 May 2016 01:50 PM PDT  A court in Senegal sentenced former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre to life in jail Monday for war crimes and crimes against humanity, an unprecedented conviction hailed as a blow to the impunity long enjoyed by repressive rulers. Habre was guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, rape, forced sexual slavery and kidnapping, said the presiding judge Gberdao Gustave Kam. The 73-year-old ex-dictator, who wore his trademark billowing white robes and sunglasses in court, had presided over "a system where impunity and terror were the law," Kam said.
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| Victims of unrepentant Chad dictator celebrate justice Posted: 30 May 2016 01:47 PM PDT  Hidden behind sunglasses and a white turban, Chad's former dictator was unrepentant Monday even as he learned he would spend the rest of his life in prison for crimes committed during his brutal rule. In contrast, survivors of Hissene Habre's eight-year reign of terror, in courtroom four of Dakar's Palace of Justice to hear the verdict, wept with joy as he was sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It was one of the few statements he made during his trial that began in Senegal on July 20 -- the first time an African country has prosecuted the former leader of another for rights abuses.
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| Experimental installations put the social in social science Posted: 30 May 2016 01:44 PM PDT  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — The truck-size metal container sitting in a downtown park here isn't meant to raise awareness about the global shipping industry, though it may nudge some people's curiosity in that direction.
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| Juncker's plan to visit Russia in June reopens EU sanctions debate Posted: 30 May 2016 01:38 PM PDT  By Alastair Macdonald and Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker's plan to meet President Vladimir Putin in June in Russia on Monday reignited a debate about ties with Moscow as the bloc weighs renewing sanctions on the Kremlin. Diplomats in Brussels still expect the 28-nation bloc to extend - most likely for six months - the energy, financial and defense sanctions against Russia, which were introduced over Moscow's role in the conflict in Ukraine and expire in July. While several EU leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel have visited Russia since the annexation in March 2014 and the backing of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, the trip will be Juncker's first as Europe's chief executive.
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| French PM puts off Canada trip as social unrest grows Posted: 30 May 2016 01:32 PM PDT  French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has scrapped a trip to Canada next month to deal with the social unrest and rolling strike action at home. Looming air and train strikes are threatening to bring chaos to France less than two weeks before the Euro 2016 football tournament kicks off, with unions standing firm Monday in demanding that controversial labour reforms are scrapped. The prime minister's visit to Canada had been scheduled for June 15-19 but has now been put off "until the autumn", according to his team.
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