| Russia, pressed to end Syria bombing, proposes March truce Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:18 PM PST  By Michelle Nichols, Tom Perry and Humeyra Pamuk UNITED NATIONS/DAMASCUS/ONCUPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - World powers pressed Russia on Wednesday to stop bombing around Aleppo in support of a Syrian government offensive to recapture the city and a Western official said Moscow had presented a proposal envisaging a truce in three weeks' time. Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a ceasefire and more aid access to Aleppo, where rebel-held areas are being cut off and the United Nations has warned a new humanitarian disaster could be on the way. Aid workers said on Wednesday the water supply to Aleppo, still home to two million people, was no longer functioning.
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| North Korea satellite not transmitting, but rocket payload a concern: U.S. Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:00 PM PST  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A satellite put into orbit by North Korea at the weekend does not appear to be transmitting, but it is worrying that the rocket that took it there delivered twice the payload of Pyongyang's previous launch, the head of the U.S. Army's Missile Defense Command said on Wednesday. "If you look at the previous launch and the payload it put into orbit … just the increase in weight is I think an important factor," Lieutenant-General David Mann told a seminar on Capitol Hill organized by the Hudson Institute think tank. "I don't think it's transmitting as we speak, but it does reflect a capability that North Korea is trying to leverage in terms of its missile technologies," he said.
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| With fewer U.S. troops in Afghanistan, pressure grows for more air strikes Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:07 PM PST  By James Mackenzie KABUL (Reuters) - Pressure is growing on the U.S. military to do more to help Afghan forces repel the threat posed by Taliban militants, and commanders in Washington and Kabul agree that enhanced air power may be where it can make the most difference. With fewer American soldiers on the ground and their rules of engagement limited, the outgoing commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General John Campbell, believes broader authorization of force is the best way of supporting stretched local troops.
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| Female suicide bombers kill over 60 people in northeast Nigeria: officials Posted: 10 Feb 2016 10:55 AM PST Two female suicide bombers killed more than 60 people at a camp for people displaced by an insurgency of the jihadist Boko Haram group in the northeast Nigerian town of Dikwa, military and emergency officials said on Wednesday. The attack occurred 85 km (50 miles) outside the capital of Borno state, centre of the seven-year insurgency, they said. The two female suicide bombers sneaked into an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp and detonated themselves in the middle of it, emergency officials and the military source said. |
| Damascus expects tough but short battle for Aleppo Posted: 10 Feb 2016 11:24 AM PST  By Laila Bassam and Tom Perry DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Syrian government expects a tough battle for Aleppo, the city that has become the focal point of the country's long civil war, but is confident of victory and says it won't be a long fight. Damascus aims to seal the border with Turkey, a major sponsor of the insurgents fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and to retake rebel-held areas of what was Syria's biggest city and industrial hub before the conflict began in 2011. "These battles are not easy, but the day will come, God willing, when all Aleppo - its rural areas and the occupied part of the city - will return to state authority," Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said in an interview on Wednesday. The government assault helped to derail already struggling Geneva peace talks this month.
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| North Korea executes army chief of staff: South Korean media Posted: 10 Feb 2016 09:24 AM PST  North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, which, if true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges and disappearances under its young leader. The news comes amid heightened tension surrounding isolated North Korea after its Sunday launch of a long-range rocket, which came about a month after it drew international condemnation for conducting its fourth nuclear test. A source familiar with North Korean affairs also told Reuters that Ri had been executed.
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| U.S. can still hit climate goals despite Supreme Court pause, White House says Posted: 10 Feb 2016 05:00 PM PST  By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House vowed Wednesday that the United States would still meet international commitments to cut carbon emissions, seeking to allay concerns that the Supreme Court might take away one of its main weapons against climate change. The court dealt a blow on Tuesday to the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which would steer electricity plants away from burning coal to cleaner fuel sources, delaying its implementation until all legal challenges are decided.
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| AFL players to appeal bans in Essendon supplements scandal Posted: 10 Feb 2016 05:00 PM PST MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The 34 players suspended from the Australian Football League amid the Essendon supplements scandal are set to appeal sanctions imposed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled in favor of a World Anti-Doping Agency challenge to an initial decision to clear the group. |
| AFL players appeal CAS doping ruling Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:43 PM PST  Thirty-four Australian Football League (AFL) players Thursday instructed their lawyers to appeal a Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling banning them for doping offences. The court decision upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against an AFL tribunal ruling last March that cleared the players after examining the club's player supplements and sports science programme. The AFL Players' Association (AFLPA) said its legal team had instructed Swiss lawyers to lodge the appeal papers with the Swiss Federal Supreme Court later on Thursday.
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| Daughter of Peru's disgraced Fujimori leads presidential poll Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:31 PM PST  Keiko Fujimori, daughter of disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori, is leading among candidates for Peru's April 10 presidential election, a poll showed Wednesday. The lawmaker, who is polling at 39 percent, is well ahead of her closest rival, Julio Guzman, who has 20 percent of the vote, according to the Datum poll published in the dailies Peru 21 and Gestion. Following behind were economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (13 percent), billionaire Cesar Acuna (nine percent) and former president Alan Garcia (five percent), according to the survey, which was conducted February 5-8 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percent.
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| Love gets an earlier start on knowing Ryder Cup team Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:21 PM PST  PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Ryder Cup team traditionally starts to take shape at the Memorial when the top players are invited to one of the cottages at Muirfield Village to be fitted for uniforms. Davis Love III wants to get an earlier start in his second stint as captain.
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| Republican White House field narrows as campaign moves south Posted: 10 Feb 2016 04:05 PM PST  Two more Republicans ended their White House runs Wednesday, whittling down the field as the remaining GOP candidates and Democrat Hillary Clinton look to blunt the momentum of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders down south. Trump and Sanders -- two political outsiders with vastly different ideologies, but who have a common campaign credo of speaking what they say is truth to power -- served notice in the Granite State on Tuesday with their resounding victories. Sanders almost doubled Clinton's tally and Trump bested second place Ohio Governor John Kasich by almost 20 percentage points.
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| Australian charged with sex attack on 2 backpackers on beach Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:58 PM PST ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Two female backpackers from Europe were savagely attacked on a remote Australian beach by a traveling companion they had met hours earlier, police said on Wednesday. |
| Thiem, Almagro into quarterfinals in Argentina Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:50 PM PST BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Fifth-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria reached his second quarterfinals of the young season when he defeated qualifier Gastao Elias of Portugal 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 in the Argentina Open on Wednesday. |
| Turkey, Greece seek NATO mission in Aegean: German official Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:49 PM PST  Turkey and Greece have agreed to ask for a NATO mission to monitor refugee flows in the Aegean Sea and combat people smugglers, a senior German government official said late on Wednesday. "Turkey and Greece are both asking NATO to develop an overview of the situation with the national coastguards and Frontex," the German official said, referring to Europe's border protection agency. Struggling to stop refugees streaming into Greece despite a deal between Ankara and the European Union to combat the flood, Germany and Turkey surprised partners this week by saying they would raise the issue with NATO.
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| Salvador high court orders civil prosecution of ex-president Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:41 PM PST  SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's Supreme Court ordered a lower tribunal to open a civil prosecution Wednesday against former President Mauricio Funes for possible illicit enrichment.
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| Ski jumping the latest event to step to the plate at Fenway Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:31 PM PST  BOSTON (AP) — Olympic silver medalist Devin Logan pictures herself standing atop the 140-foot ski jump that towers over Fenway Park's Green Monster, hitting her jump and then coming to a stop right about where a batter would stand.
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| Kurds, allies seize key air base in north Syria: monitor Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:25 PM PST  Kurdish forces backed by Arab rebel groups captured a strategic air base and the adjacent town in northern Syria from rival anti-government factions overnight, a monitoring group said early Thursday. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and its Arab allies expelled Islamist and other rebel fighters from the Minnigh air base and adjacent town, north of Syria's second city Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.
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| Top Asian News 11:23 p.m. GMT Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:23 PM PST SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea said Wednesday that it will shut down a joint industrial park with North Korea in response to its recent rocket launch, accusing the North of using hard currency from the park to develop its nuclear and missile programs. The decision to end operations at the industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, the last major cooperation project between the rival countries, comes after North Korea on Sunday launched a long-range rocket considered by other nations to be a banned missile technology test. By closing the complex, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has done something her conservative predecessor resisted, even after two attacks blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. |
| Senate passes bill to hit North Korea with harsher sanctions Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:23 PM PST  WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking to derail North Korea's drive for nuclear weapons, Republican and Democratic senators set aside their partisan differences Wednesday to unanimously pass legislation aimed at starving Pyongyang of the money it needs to build an atomic arsenal.
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| No 1 golfer Ko says Olympics her 'top priority' this year Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:20 PM PST CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Top-ranked golfer Lydia Ko says the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be her top priority this year. |
| Senate unanimously backs tougher North Korea sanctions Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:15 PM PST  The U.S. Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to toughen sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program, human rights record and cyber activities, as U.S. lawmakers sought to crack down on Pyongyang for its nuclear tests. The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. Differences between the two are expected to be resolved quickly and Senate Democrats said they expected President Barack Obama would sign the measure into law.
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| Barcelona sets club record of 29 straight games without loss Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:14 PM PST  MADRID (AP) — Barcelona broke the club record with its 29th consecutive unbeaten game when its second-stringers salvaged a 1-1 draw against Valencia in the Copa del Rey semifinals on Wednesday.
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| The Latest: Assassin of Robert Kennedy denied parole Posted: 10 Feb 2016 03:02 PM PST  SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on the parole hearing for Sirhan Sirhan, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy (all times local):
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| West Brom beats 3rd tier Peterborough in FA Cup on penalties Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:53 PM PST PETERBOROUGH, England (AP) — West Bromwich Albion survived a scare to edge past third-tier Peterborough on penalties in an FA Cup replay to reach the fifth round on Wednesday. |
| 2nd-seeded Cilic beats Muller to reach last 8 in Rotterdam Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:51 PM PST ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Second-seeded Marin Cilic reached the World Tennis Tournament quarterfinals by defeating Gilles Muller of Luxembourg 7-6 (2), 7-6 (7) in the second round on Wednesday. |
| House passes bill requiring EPA actions on lead-laced water Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:44 PM PST  The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday easily passed a bill requiring federal environmental regulators to act faster when lead contamination is found in drinking water. It was crafted by Michigan Representatives Dan Kildee, a Democrat, and Fred Upton, a Republican, in the wake of Flint's drinking water crisis. The measure requires the Environmental Protection Agency to notify the public when concentrations of lead in drinking water rise above mandated levels and to create a plan to improve communication between the agency, utilities, states, and consumers.
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| Report: Harmful gas levels in Lumber Liquidators flooring Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:42 PM PST NEW YORK (AP) — A national retailer sold Chinese-made flooring that emits hazardous levels of formaldehyde, a federal investigation found. |
| UN wants to send experts for Burundi mass graves probe Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:36 PM PST  The United Nations wants to send independent forensics experts to Burundi to help authorities investigate allegations of mass graves in the strife-torn country, a senior official said Wednesday. After a government security crackdown in December, witnesses came forward with accounts of at least nine mass graves in and around Bujumbura including one in a military camp where more than 100 bodies were allegedly buried. UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic told reporters that a Burundian prosecutor had opened an investigation of the alleged mass graves and that the United Nations had offered to help.
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| With last flourish, veteran French politician Fabius bows out Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:30 PM PST  Veteran French politician Laurent Fabius bowed out of government Wednesday after a career spanning more than three decades that saw an early string of scandals but ended with him shepherding a complex climate deal as foreign minister. Fabius holds the distinction of being France's youngest-ever prime minister, a post he took up at 37, and has remained a Socialist heavyweight, ending his career in the ornate hallways of the Quai d'Orsay as his country's top diplomat.
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| Bayern to host Bremen, Dortmund visit Hertha in German Cup Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:27 PM PST  BERLIN (AP) — Bayern Munich beat 10-man Bochum 3-0 on Wednesday and set up a German Cup semifinal at home against Werder Bremen.
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| Erdogan lambasts US over support for Syrian Kurds Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:24 PM PST  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday launched a bitter attack on NATO ally the United States over its support of Syrian Kurdish groups, saying it was creating a "pool of blood" in the region. In an impassioned and sometimes angry address, Erdogan asked whether the United States was an ally or was working with groups Ankara lists as terror organisations. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its People's Protection Units (YPG) militia to be terror groups allied to the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) inside Turkey, a position not shared by Washington.
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| Ibrahimovic scores 2 as PSG beats Lyon 3-0 in French Cup Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:23 PM PST PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain beat Lyon 3-0 to reach the French Cup quarterfinals on Wednesday and remain on course to repeat its domestic treble of last season. |
| Ski jump leader Prevc wins in Norway Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:19 PM PST  TRONDHEIM, Norway (AP) — Peter Prevc was another leap closer to becoming the ski jumping World Cup champion with a victory in Trondheim on Wednesday.
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| Hoffenheim coach Huub Stevens resigns for health reasons Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:17 PM PST  SINSHEIM, Germany (AP) — Huub Stevens resigned as coach of relegation-threatened Hoffenheim for health reasons on Wednesday.
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| Pope takes bridge-building mission to Mexico Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:09 PM PST  Prior to embarking on his long-planned February 12-17 tour of Mexico, the 79-year-old pontiff will stop over in Havana for a historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. The son of Italian emigrants to Argentina, Francis was not under any pressure to go to Mexico, which was graced by the presence of previous pontiffs six times between 1998 and 2012. "I want to come as a missionary of mercy and peace," Francis said in a pre-trip video message.
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| 2 female bombers kill 58 in northeast Nigerian refugee camp Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:08 PM PST  MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Two female suicide bombers blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian refugee camp, killing at least 58 people, health and rescue officials said Wednesday.
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| Clinton, Republicans regroup after New Hampshire drubbing Posted: 10 Feb 2016 02:08 PM PST  Hillary Clinton and a gaggle of mainstream Republican presidential hopefuls turned their gaze southward Wednesday, hoping to move on from thumping New Hampshire primary defeats at the hands of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Sanders and Trump -- two political outsiders with vastly different ideologies, but who have a common campaign credo of shouting truth at power -- resoundingly won the second contest in this months-long nomination race with some ease. Sanders almost doubled Clinton's tally and Trump bested second place Ohio Governor John Kasich by almost 20 percentage points.
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| Spain: Puppeteers in terror case released from jail Posted: 10 Feb 2016 01:48 PM PST  MADRID (AP) — A Spanish court on Wednesday released two puppeteers jailed since last week for allegedly praising terrorism in a controversial Carnival show funded with public money.
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| Qatar and Pakistan sign '$16 billion' gas deal Posted: 10 Feb 2016 01:47 PM PST  Qatar signed a long-term deal with Pakistan on Wednesday to export liquefied natural gas, according to state media in the Gulf. The deal will see Qatar export up to 3.75 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year, according to Pakistan's petroleum minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The Qatar News Agency (QNA) confirmed the deal had been signed in a statement posted on its website.
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