| Brazil Congressional committee recommends impeaching President Rousseff Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:44 PM PDT  An impeachment committee of Brazil's lower house of Congress voted 38-27 on Monday that there are grounds to impeach President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws to allegedly favor her re-election in 2014. Now, the full lower house must vote on the impeachment proceedings, which is expected to take place on Sunday. If two-thirds of its members vote in favor, the impeachment will be sent to the Senate and Rousseff would be suspended if the upper house agrees by a simple majority to put her on trial.
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| Syrian army sends reinforcements to Aleppo Posted: 11 Apr 2016 09:26 AM PDT  By Angus McDowall and Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - The Syrian army was on Monday reported to be sending reinforcements to Aleppo, where renewed fighting is threatening a fragile truce in the run-up to the next round of peace talks. Underlining the conflict's regional dimensions, Iranian media announced the first deaths of members of its regular army in Syria, a week after Tehran said army commandos had been deployed in support of Damascus. Iran's military support has so far mostly been provided by the elite Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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| Turkish cabinet meets in strife-torn southeast as fighting rages Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:13 PM PDT  Fighting raged on Monday between Turkish security forces and Kurdish militants in southeast Turkey as the cabinet met in the restive region to discuss ways of rebuilding its shattered economy. A car bomb smashed into a military base in Diyarbakir province, killing one soldier and wounding 20 others, just hours after cabinet adjourned in neighboring Sanliurfa, security sources said. The Turkish army said 39 members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) had been killed in clashes in four towns across the region over the weekend, adding to a death toll that has risen sharply since the collapse of a ceasefire last July.
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| Venezuela's top court strikes down opposition-backed amnesty law Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:29 PM PDT  Venezuela's top court on Monday struck down an amnesty law approved last month by the opposition-dominated Congress, scuttling an effort by critics of President Nicolas Maduro to secure the release of jailed opposition activists. The supreme court's constitutional chamber ruled that the law violated constitutional principles because it promoted impunity and offered amnesty for crimes that were not eligible for such treatment. "This impunity law cannot pass," said Maduro, who had vowed to veto it, in a televised broadcast minutes before the court's decision was released.
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| Scuffles at Greek-Macedonian border, day after dozens injured Posted: 11 Apr 2016 08:29 AM PDT  By Stoyan Nenov and Ayat Basma IDOMENI, Greece (Reuters) - Scuffles broke out between migrants and Greek police on Monday after dozens tried to push a train carriage along rail tracks leading to Macedonia. The minor trouble came a day after dozens of migrants and refugees were injured in clashes with Macedonian police which the Greek prime minister deplored as "a disgrace for European civilization". More than 10,000 migrants and refugees have been stranded at the Greek border outpost of Idomeni since February after a cascade of border shutdowns across the Balkans closed off their route to central and western Europe.
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| Egyptians outraged at plan to transfer Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:48 PM PDT  By Amina Ismail and Ahmed Aboulenein CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's announcement during a five-day visit by King Salman that it would transfer two Red Sea islands to its Saudi ally has outraged Egyptians, who took to social media to criticize the move, which now faces a legal challenge. The Egyptian government said in a statement on Saturday that the two countries had signed maritime demarcation accords that put the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in Saudi waters, a process it said had taken six years. Saudi and Egyptian officials said the islands belong to the kingdom and were only under Egyptian control because Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdulaziz Al Saud, asked Egypt in 1950 to protect them.
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| Venezuela's high court rejects amnesty law for opponents Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:58 PM PDT CARCAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional legislation passed by the opposition-controlled congress to free dozens of jailed politicians who are foes of President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government. |
| Why you might soon text robots as often as your friends Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:54 PM PDT  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The robots are coming — to help run your life or sell you stuff — at an online texting service near you.
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| Brazil congressional committee votes in favor of impeachment Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:53 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A congressional committee voted Monday to recommend that the impeachment process against President Dilma Rousseff move forward, bringing the possible ouster of the embattled leader a step closer.
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| FDA approves drug for tough-to-treat type of leukemia Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:52 PM PDT TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a new type of drug that targets a subset of leukemia patients with a genetic abnormality that makes the cancer harder to treat. |
| Germany says examining Turkish request to prosecute satirist Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:49 PM PDT  Germany said on Monday it was examining a formal request made by Turkey for it to prosecute a comedian who recited an obscene poem about Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in a satirical show on national television. German prosecutors have already begun investigating Jan Boehmermann, the iconoclastic host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public channel ZDF, on suspicion of the crime of "offending foreign states' organs and representatives". Government spokesman Steffen Seibert said the Turkish embassy had sent Germany's foreign ministry a cable with "a formal request from the Turkish side for a prosecution in connection with comments made in this broadcast." "The content of this cable and the way forward will now be carefully examined by the government," Seibert told a regular government news conference.
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| Turkish leader files complaint against German comedian over TV poem Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:48 PM PDT  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has filed a complaint against a comedian who recited a satirical poem about him on German national television, German prosecutors said in a statement. The public prosecutor's office in the western city of Mainz said Erdogan had filed the complaint against Jan Boehmermann via a law firm for insulting him. Boehmermann is the host of the late-night "Neo Magazin Royale" on the public ZDF channel.
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| Brazil committee recommends Dilma Rousseff's impeachment Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:45 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - A congressional committee on Monday recommended impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, setting the stage for a crucial vote in the lower house to decide whether she should face trial.
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| Aid sector reform must not be clouded by self-interest: report Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:42 PM PDT  By Tom Esslemont LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The world's "self-interested" international aid system must give local charities a greater role in shaping responses to humanitarian disasters or it will fail to assist those most in need, aid experts warned on Tuesday. The remarks by a London-based think tank, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), were targeted at United Nations agencies, governments and private sector companies preparing to debate changes to the aid system at the World Humanitarian Summit in May. Opinions are divided over the role of local charities in a reformed aid sector that has long been dominated by Western donors, the Red Cross movement and U.N. agencies and is now struggling to fund assistance to a record 90 million people in need.
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| Media reports: 1 killed in car bomb attack in Turkey Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:36 PM PDT ISTANBUL (AP) — A car bomb attack hit a military police station Monday night in a mainly Kurdish region in southeastern Turkey, killing one person and wounding more than two dozen others, according to Turkish media reports. |
| Brazil VP Temer says call for national unity went out by mistake Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:32 PM PDT Brazil's Vice President Michel Temer said on Monday that an audio message that showed him preparing to take over if President Dilma Rousseff is impeached was released by mistake and merely expressed views of his that are already known. Temer told reporters the audio message calling for a government of national unity was aimed for a politicians close to him who had asked if he was prepared to govern in the case that Rousseff were to be impeached. |
| Dodgers open at home with Kenta Maeda on mound Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:31 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Japanese star Kenta Maeda will make his Dodger Stadium debut and Hall of Fame announcer Vin Scully will be behind the mic for the final home opener of his 67-year career when the Dodgers host the Diamondbacks after opening the season in San Diego and San Francisco.
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| Peru markets rally as runoff vote dominated by conservatives Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:28 PM PDT  LIMA, Peru (AP) — Investors are celebrating the apparent elimination of a leftist candidate in Peru's presidential election as the country gears up for a tight June runoff between the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori and a conservative economist beloved by Wall Street.
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| Panama Papers reveal spies used Mossak Fonseca Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:18 PM PDT  Secret agents from several countries, including intermediaries of the CIA, have used the services of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in order to "conceal" their activities, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Tuesday. "Secret agents and their informants have made wide use of the company's services," wrote the newspaper, which obtained a massive stash of 11.5 million documents from the company that is sending shockwaves around the globe. "Agents have opened shell companies to conceal their activities... Among them are close intermediaries of the CIA," the newspaper reported.
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| US officials: The more we learn about Zika, scarier it is Posted: 11 Apr 2016 04:11 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The more researchers learn about the Zika virus, the scarier it appears, U.S. health officials said Monday as they urged more money for mosquito control and for developing vaccines and treatments.
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| Peru raids local Mossack Fonseca office, seizes documents Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:56 PM PDT Authorities in Peru raided the local office of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca on Monday, seizing accounting documents in an investigation into possible tax evasion and fraud, the country's tax agency said. A team of 20 tax officials sought evidence on whether companies Mossack Fonseca helped establish in tax havens were used to commit crimes in Peru, tax agency SUNAT said in a statement. Mossack Fonseca is at the center of an international data leak scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies. |
| UN envoy says next phase in Syria talks 'crucial' Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:56 PM PDT  The UN peace envoy to Syria said Monday that an upcoming round of negotiations in Geneva would be "crucially important" in finding a solution to the country's brutal five-year war. Staffan de Mistura's comments in Damascus came as offensives by Syria's Al-Qaeda affiliate and allied rebels triggered a spike in violence that could endanger the negotiations due to resume Wednesday. In Damascus, de Mistura said the next round of talks would be vital because they would focus on a political transition for Syria, where the fate of President Bashar al-Assad remains a major sticking point.
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| Canada faces suicide crisis in indigenous community Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:56 PM PDT  Canadian government officials said Monday they were sending an emergency psychiatric team to an isolated aboriginal community to deal with a rash of suicide attempts after 11 residents tried to kill themselves this month. The team was expected to arrive in Attawapiskat, a community of 2,000 on the shores of James Bay in northern Ontario province, in the coming days. Health Minister Jane Philpott said Ottawa was working on an emergency response to address the community's immediate needs and ensure that mental health resources were in place.
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| Judge clears 'Stairway to Heaven' copyright case for trial Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:52 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (AP) — A trial is needed to determine if Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" copies its opening notes from a song performed by the rock band Spirit, a federal judge has ruled.
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| Summer coming to Europe and US, and maybe Zika with it: experts Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:38 PM PDT  With summer approaching, Zika may find its way into virus-carrying mosquitoes in Europe or the United States, disease experts have warned, but any outbreaks are likely to be small and short-lived. Doctors and scientists attending a major infectious diseases conference in Amsterdam said there was no reason to panic, and the idea of screening travellers was far-fetched. Zika is borne by the Aedes aegypti mosquito found in Latin America and the Caribbean, regions still in the grip of an outbreak of the virus which has been linked to severe brain damage in babies and rare neurological diseases in adults.
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| Man City seek to seize moment against PSG Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:30 PM PDT  European expansionists Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain resume their pursuit of new frontiers on Tuesday with their Champions League quarter-final delicately balanced at 2-2 following last week's first leg. Away goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho at the Parc des Princes unexpectedly left City in the driving seat, but the attacking armada at PSG coach Laurent Blanc's disposal means that his City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini will not instruct his side to sit on their advantage. "I think that the most important aspect of this team is always to score," Pellegrini said.
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| Three injured in helicopter crash at Anglo mine in Chile Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:29 PM PDT Three people were hurt in central Chile on Monday when a helicopter sent to rescue an injured contractor near Anglo American's Los Bronces mine crashed into the Andes Mountains, the global mining company said in a statement. Anglo American added that it was coordinating a rescue for the downed crew and the injured contractor. "At approximately 16:00 today, a helicopter from the company Suma Air fell to the ground while attending to the rescue of a specialist from the consultancy Geostudios who had suffered a leg fracture while carrying out field studies in the high mountains at the Los Bronces mine," the company said. |
| U.S. bans most Pacific sardine fishing after population crash Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:26 PM PDT  By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Federal fishery managers have banned nearly all sardine fishing off the U.S. West Coast for the second straight year in a move hailed by conservation groups as key to protecting decimated California sea lion herds. Pacific sardine populations have plunged by 90 percent since 2007, prompting the Pacific Fishery Management Council to vote Sunday to extend its prohibition on virtually all fishing of the small oily fish within 200 miles of the California, Oregon and Washington coasts. The sardine collapse has rippled up the food chain and has been linked to deaths of sea lions and brown pelicans across the U.S. West Coast.
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| Boeing, Iran airlines in talks on new aircraft sales Posted: 11 Apr 2016 03:13 PM PDT  US aerospace giant Boeing expressed caution Monday after executives held talks in Iran on providing new aircraft to Iranian carriers last week. Two months after getting permission from the US government to explore resuming sales to Iran as sanctions are eased on the country, the company said it used the meetings to understand what Iran's airlines needed and the capabilities of its aircraft after decades of being cut off from US suppliers. "Boeing discussed the capabilities of its commercial passenger airplanes and after-market services with Iranian airlines approved by the US government," Boeing spokesman John Dern told AFP.
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| Trump blasts 'rigged' rules on picking Republican delegates Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:58 PM PDT  By John Whitesides WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump lashed out at what he called the party's "rigged" delegate selection rules on Monday after rival Ted Cruz swept all of Colorado's 34 delegates over the weekend. The New York billionaire, who has been outmanoeuvred by Cruz in a series of recent state meetings to select national convention delegates, said the process was set up to protect party insiders and shut out insurgent candidates. "The system is rigged, it's crooked," Trump said on Fox News on Monday, alleging the Colorado convention results showed voters were being denied a voice in the process.
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| Puerto Rico unveils new restructuring deal as cash dwindles Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:52 PM PDT  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico's government released a new proposal Monday for restructuring part of its $70 billion debt to buy time to implement a fiscal plan as multimillion-dollar payments loom for the U.S. territory facing dwindling cash reserves.
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| Top Asian News 9:51 p.m. GMT Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — An emotional John Kerry said Hiroshima's horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of state to tread upon the ground of the world's first atomic bombing. Kerry's visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park's stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima's iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance. The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the dangerous Atomic Age. |
| Navy officer accused of espionage; now held in Navy brig Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has charged a Taiwan-born Navy officer with espionage for allegedly passing military secrets to China or Taiwan, U.S. defense officials said Monday. |
| Stand-in keeper Vardy hails Leicester camaraderie Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:48 PM PDT  Jamie Vardy has revealed he acts as a makeshift goalkeeper in training as Leicester City's top scorer gave an insight into the camaraderie underpinning their unlikely Premier League title march. Claudio Ranieri's side are closing in on English football's biggest prize and require nine points from their five remaining matches to confound all the pre-season predictions by finishing top of the pile in May. Vardy has played a major role in their success, with the 29-year-old's two goals in Sunday's 2-0 victory at Sunderland taking his tally for the campaign to 21.
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| Divisive Fujimori faces runoff battle to lead Peru Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:47 PM PDT  Keiko Fujimori has vowed to unite Peru after her first-round presidential election victory, but she faces a fierce runoff battle to overcome the divisive legacy of her jailed father. The 40-year-old conservative candidate claimed a boost from Sunday's vote in her quest to become the first female president of the South American mineral-exporting nation.
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| Venezuela to freeze assets in Panama leaks probe Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:44 PM PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's chief prosecutor has ordered banks to freeze the accounts of people that the government is investigating in connection with the leaked documents that originated with a Panama-based law firm that helps set up secretive offshore bank accounts and shell companies. |
| With UN envoy in Damascus, IS takes Syrian town from rebels Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:42 PM PDT  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Islamic State militants recaptured a vital border crossing in northern Syria and shot down a government warplane in the country's west Monday as the U.N.'s special envoy urged the warring parties to respect a fragile cease-fire ahead of peace talks set to resume in Geneva this week.
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| Brazil impeachment committee votes on president's fate Posted: 11 Apr 2016 02:37 PM PDT Brasília (AFP) - An impeachment committee was due to vote Monday on the fate of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff ahead of a decisive vote in the lower house of Congress on whether she will face trial. Paulo Pimenta, a deputy with Rousseff's Workers' Party, told AFP that the president expected to lose the committee vote by a margin of about 35-29. A two-thirds majority in the lower house would send Rousseff's case to the Senate, which would then have the power to put her on trial and ultimately drive her from office. |
