| Five dead, two hurt in worst Canada school shooting in decades Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:34 PM PST  By Rod Nickel WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Five people were killed and two critically injured in a school shooting in a remote part of Saskatchewan on Friday and a suspect was in custody, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. Trudeau did not give a motivation for the shooting in La Loche, about 600 km (375 miles) north of the city of Saskatoon. "Obviously this is every parent's worst nightmare," said Trudeau, who was in Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum.
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| U.S. 'hopes' Saudi Arabia may reopen Tehran embassy Posted: 22 Jan 2016 12:06 PM PST  The United States hopes that Saudi Arabia may restore diplomatic ties with Iran, a senior State Department official said by phone on Friday ahead of Secretary of State John Kerry's Saturday visit to Riyadh. Tensions between bitter regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran escalated this month after Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric triggered an attack by Iranian protesters on its Tehran embassy, leading the kingdom to cut diplomatic ties.
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| Chinese leader in Iran to discuss economy, regional crisis: state TV Posted: 22 Jan 2016 01:40 PM PST  Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Tehran on Friday to discuss improvement of economic and political ties after lifting of international sanctions because of Iran's disputed nuclear program, state TV said. Xi will meet top Iranian officials, including the country's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani. "A high-ranking political and economic delegation is accompanying the Chinese president during his one-day trip," state television quoted deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying.
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| Haiti postpones presidential election as violence erupts Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:39 PM PST  By Frank Jack Daniel PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Haiti called off Sunday's presidential election after violent protests erupted on Friday and the opposition candidate vowed to boycott the vote over alleged fraud. Pierre Louis Opont, president of Haiti's electoral council, said the runoff vote was being pushed back for security reasons. The announcement first sparked jubilation among the demonstrators on the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince, but the mood quickly darkened.
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| Israeli troops evict Jewish settlers from West Bank homes Posted: 22 Jan 2016 12:14 PM PST  By Ori Lewis JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli troops forcibly removed Jewish settlers on Friday from homes in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron that they said they had bought from Palestinians, prompting some right-wing lawmakers to threaten to withhold support for the government. Ministers and members of parliament from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party decried Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon's refusal to sign off on the settlers' occupancy of the homes in a city where tensions between Israelis and Palestinians run high. Once this happens, the settlers will be able to return, as has happened in past cases." Two right-wing lawmakers from Likud and another from the ultranationalist Jewish Home party said they would boycott parliamentary votes on Monday in protest at the move.
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| China taking 'self-isolating' steps in South China Sea: Pentagon Posted: 22 Jan 2016 10:04 AM PST  The United States is not looking for conflict with China but steps it is taking in the South China Sea are self-isolating and prompting other countries to seek help from Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Friday. "I'm not one of those people who believes conflict between the United States and China is inevitable, it's certainly not desirable, I don't think it's likely," Carter said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. It is because China is taking some steps that I fear are self-isolating, driving towards a result that none of us wants," he said, in reference to Chinese measures in the South China Sea.
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| Charlotte Rampling clarifies controversial diversity remarks Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:52 PM PST  LONDON (AP) — Academy Award-nominated actress Charlotte Rampling said her comments that an Oscars' boycott is "racist to white people" were misinterpreted. In an interview with CBS News' "Sunday Morning" released on Friday, Rampling said she wished every performance were given equal opportunity for consideration.
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| Cate Blanchett promotes Oscar-nominated 'Carol' in Japan Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:52 PM PST TOKYO (AP) — Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett brought her latest film, the 1950s lesbian romance "Carol," to Tokyo. |
| East Coast blizzard may dump record snow on Washington Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:49 PM PST  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A winter storm that could bury parts of the U.S. Middle Atlantic region under nearly 3 feet (90 cm) of snow slammed into Washington on Friday, threatening the nation's capital with record accumulations as it barreled up the populous East Coast. The blizzard started to blanket the Washington area during the early afternoon. The storm could dump 2 to 2-1/2 feet (61 to 76 cm) of snow on the capital and bring winds of 30 to 50 mph (48 to 80 kph) before winding down late on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
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| The Latest: Ohio man disheartened North Korea holds student Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:37 PM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The latest on the detention of an American student in North Korea (all times local): |
| Some anti-IS partners do 'nothing at all': Pentagon chief Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:21 PM PST  Several members of the US-led coalition attacking the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria are doing "nothing at all" to help destroy the jihadists, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Friday. "Many of them are not doing enough, or are doing nothing at all," Carter said in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In a separate interview with Bloomberg TV, Carter called the anti-IS alliance a "so-called" coalition, highlighting frustrations the Pentagon has with some partners -- particularly Sunni Arab nations -- not doing enough.
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| Argentina's Macri has strong support despite devaluation: polls Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:20 PM PST  By Hugh Bronstein BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Mauricio Macri's popularity is at about 65 percent two months after he narrowly won office and carried out a shock currency devaluation as part of his plan to revive Latin America's No. 3 economy, two polls showed. Macri, a conservative, had a popularity rating of 64 percent in one poll by the Poliarquia consultancy published on Friday and 67 percent in the latest survey from pollster Isonomia.
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| Croatia MPs vote in new cabinet amid economic, migrant crises Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:19 PM PST  Croatia's parliament late Friday approved a new centre-right government led by a political novice, who warned "difficult decisions" lie ahead as the EU's newest member struggles with meagre economic growth and an influx of refugees. More than two months after a general election failed to produce an outright winner, Tihomir Oreskovic, a non-partisan pharmaceutical executive, was voted in as prime minister after laying out his plans to deputies. Immediately after the vote, Oreskovic and 22 members of his cabinet were sworn in inside the parliament.
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| Five dead, two injured in Canada school shooting Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:18 PM PST  Shots rang out at a high school in Canada's western plains province of Saskatchewan on Friday, leaving five people dead and two others critically injured, the prime minister said. A nearby elementary school was also shuttered "as a precaution," a federal police spokeswoman told AFP. The school shooting is the deadliest in 26 years in Canada.
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| Oreskovic: pharma exec and political novice becomes Croatian PM Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:09 PM PST  A pharmaceutical executive and political novice, Tihomir Oreskovic has become Croatia's premier after spending just a few years in the country and speaking only rusty Croatian, prompting some to question his credentials for the post. Born in the capital Zagreb in 1966, Oreskovic moved with his parents to Canada only two years later, where he graduated with a degree in chemistry and finished his MBA studies in finance and information systems. A citizen of both Canada and Croatia, he began his professional career in 1992 with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, then joined Teva in 2005, holding the company's top managerial positions in both countries.
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| Google to pay $140 million in back taxes in Britain Posted: 22 Jan 2016 04:03 PM PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google will pay about $140 million in British back taxes in a concession driven by a shift in how the Internet company will measure its success in the United Kingdom. The amount translates into 130 million pounds. |
| Michigan suspends workers, restores Flint mayoral powers in water crisis Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:49 PM PST  By Serena Marie Daniels and Timothy Gardner FLINT, Mich/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michigan Governor Rick Snyder on Friday suspended two state workers in connection with water testing failures in the Flint contamination crisis and the state restored some powers to Mayor Karen Weaver. Snyder, who NBC news reported has hired a crisis PR firm, suspended two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality workers in an increasing national furor over elevated lead readings in tap water and the blood of some children. Snyder apologized this week to Flint residents for the state's failures.
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| Mexico arrests 3 more in disappearance of 43 students Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:45 PM PST  MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities have arrested three more suspects in the disappearance of 43 students more than a year ago in a southern state.
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| Croatian parliament approves new government Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:45 PM PST ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia's parliament has approved a new center-right government led by Canada-educated financial expert Tihomir Oreskovic, ending more than two months of political deadlock after an inconclusive general election. |
| Uganda bans maids working in Saudi Arabia amid complaints of mistreatment Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:41 PM PST By Yasin Kakande KAMPALA, Uganda (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The government of Uganda said on Friday it will stop sending housemaids to Saudi Arabia, eclipsing a deal between the two nations to ship workers to the wealthy Gulf nation amid complaints of poor conditions and mistreatment. The ban will remain until working conditions in Saudi Arabia are "deemed fitting," the Ugandan government said. The two nations had signed a deal in July for the deployment of university graduates to work in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. |
| Mexico nabs three more suspects in missing students case Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:37 PM PST  Mexican authorities have arrested three more suspects in connection with the disappearance and presumed slaughter of 43 students in 2014. Authorities have now detained 113 people, including police officers and drug cartel suspects, in a case that has caused international outrage and challenged President Enrique Pena Nieto's administration. National Security Commissioner Renato Sales said Friday that three suspected members of a criminal group were detained in Iguala, the city in the southern state of Guerrero where the 43 students vanished on September 26, 2014.
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| Bayern Munich resumes Bundesliga with 2-1 win at Hamburg Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:36 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Robert Lewandowski scored twice for Bayern Munich to extend its Bundesliga lead with a 2-1 win at Hamburger SV as the league resumed from its month-long winter break on Friday.
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| UN council makes little headway in Burundi crisis talks Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:33 PM PST  UN Security Council ambassadors met for two hours with Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza on Friday, but said they had made little headway in efforts to bring peace to the troubled central African nation. Council envoys have pushed for the government to hold talks with the opposition and agree to the presence of international troops -- such as a proposed 5,000-strong African Union force -- to restore stability. "There is a 'cri de coeur' from many, many people in Burundi for outside help and for urgent, urgent mediation to get a solution," Power added.
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| Ex-Soviet Moldova mired in political crisis as protests heat up Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:29 PM PST  Anger over a $1 billion corruption scandal and the influence of an oligarch, with the competing pull of Europe and Russia in the background, has left ex-Soviet Moldova locked in a complex political crisis with no end in sight. "The country has been de facto ungoverned over the past year and corruption has increased," analyst Nicu Popescu from the European Union Institute for Security Studies told AFP. Wedged between Ukraine and Romania, Moldova is often seen in terms of a tug-of-war between Moscow and the West, especially after it inked an historic EU association agreement in 2014 despite bitter opposition from former master Russia.
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| Uruguay: Ex-Gitmo inmate arrested in domestic violence case Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:23 PM PST  MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — A Uruguayan police official says a former Guantanamo detainee resettled in the South American nation has been arrested on a domestic violence complaint.
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| Google to pay £130 mn to Britain in back taxes Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:22 PM PST  Technology giant Google is to pay £130 million (172 million euros, $185.4 million) in back taxes to Britain following a government inquiry into its tax arrangements, a company spokeswoman said Friday. It follows a six-year probe by Britain's HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in response to controversy over low taxes paid by multinational corporations which operate in Britain but have headquarters elsewhere. "We have agreed with HMRC a new approach for our UK taxes and will pay £130 million, covering taxes since 2005," a Google spokeswoman said.
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| Taiwan pilot presumed killed in F-16 crash in US Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:21 PM PST  The pilot of an F-16 fighter jet that crashed while training in Arizona came from Taiwan and is presumed dead, the US Air Force said Friday. The plane crashed Thursday morning north of Luke Air Force Base near the small town of Bagdad in the southwestern state. "Sadly, last night our Interim Safety Board members discovered human remains at the crash site of the F-16 from Taiwan," Brigadier General Scott Pleus said.
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| Haiti in limbo as election postponed amid unrest Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:17 PM PST  Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Haiti was once again plunged into political limbo Friday after plans to hold an imminent presidential run-off were abandoned in the face of an opposition boycott and fierce street protests. An AFP reporter heard gunfire within a hundred yards (meters) of the presidential palace in downtown Port-au-Prince. The poorest country in the Americas had been due to go to the polls to elect a successor to President Michel Martelly and seek a way out of a deep crisis that now threatens to leave a political vacuum.
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| Syrian opposition sharply divided ahead of peace talks Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:13 PM PST  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian groups opposed to President Bashar Assad are still sharply divided on who should represent them at peace talks which were scheduled to begin Monday in Geneva but now appear to be delayed.
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| Top Asian News 11:03 p.m. GMT Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:03 PM PST CINCINNATI (AP) — Officials in North Korea and the U.S. released little information Friday about a university student from Ohio who was detained for what the authoritarian nation called a "hostile act." Otto Warmbier is the second person from southwest Ohio to be detained in North Korea in less than two years. A Dayton-area man, Jeffrey Fowle, was held for nearly six months in 2014. North Korea's state media said the University of Virginia student entered the country under the guise of a tourist and plotted against North Korean unity with "the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation." The date of his arrest was unclear, as were any details of what he did. |
| Thousands return to Nigerian town after Boko Haram ouster Posted: 22 Jan 2016 03:02 PM PST  Thousands of Nigerian refugees, who fled to neighbouring Cameroon in 2014 to escape Boko Harm militants, have returned to the liberated northeastern town of Gamboru only to find their homes and their livelihoods destroyed, residents and officials told AFP Friday. Over the past three days more than 15,000 Nigerians have crossed the 300-metre (yard) river bridge that forms the border with Cameroon, following calls by military and local leaders for residents to return, an official in Gamboru said. Boko Haram fighters seized Gamboru in violence-wracked Borno state in August 2014, forcing thousands to flee across the border to the town of Fotokol on the other bank of the river in northern Cameroon.
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| Venezuela lawmakers reject economic crisis plan Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:53 PM PST  Venezuelan opposition lawmakers on Friday rejected President Nicolas Maduro's bid to decree a state of economic emergency, deepening a political crisis in the oil-rich nation. Friday was the deadline for the opposition-controlled National Assembly to vote on Maduro's decree, which would have given him special powers to intervene in the economic crisis. Yes to the decree!" yelled deputy Diosdado Cabello, the second most senior figure in Maduro's leadership, during the vote.
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| Elton Chigumbura steps down as Zimbabwe captain Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:50 PM PST KHULNA, Bangladesh (AP) — Elton Chigumbura has stepped down as Zimbabwe cricket captain following the 2-2 Twenty20 series draw in Bangladesh. |
| Energy stocks lead a broad rally as the price of oil soars Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:44 PM PST  NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks made their biggest gain in more than a month on Friday as oil prices surged, lifting energy stocks. Tech stocks also climbed as Apple jumped the most since August.
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| Banned from global track, Russians compete at small meets Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:38 PM PST  MOSCOW (AP) — Just five months ago, Maria Kuchina won the world high jump title in front of tens of thousands of fans in Beijing. On Friday, she competed at a low-key meet with a few dozen athletes and fewer spectators.
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| Stimulus hopes pump oil, stocks higher Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:34 PM PST  World stock markets and oil prices rallied Friday, building on the previous day's recovery sparked by European Central Bank hints of more eurozone stimulus. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index got the markets off to a positive start, surging nearly six percent following a report in the Nikkei business daily that the Bank of Japan was considering extra economy-boosting measures in response to worries about deflation. The Japanese report allowed European and US markets to extend Thursday's upward climb following comments by ECB chief Mario Draghi suggesting more stimulus was likely in March.
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| Last-minute own goal gives Rennes 1-0 win over Ajaccio Posted: 22 Jan 2016 02:29 PM PST RENNES, France (AP) — An own goal in added time from Gazelec Ajaccio defender Roderic Filippi gave Rennes a 1-0 win in the French league in Rolland Courbis' first match as coach of the Brittany side. |
