| Obama ramps up special forces mission in Syria against Islamic State Posted: 25 Apr 2016 07:36 AM PDT  By Roberta Rampton HANOVER, Germany (Reuters) - President Barack Obama announced on Monday the biggest expansion of U.S. ground troops in Syria since the civil war there began, saying he would dispatch 250 special forces soldiers to help local militia to build on successes against Islamic State. While the total U.S. ground force is still small by comparison to other American deployments, defense experts said it could help shift the momentum in Syria by giving more Syrian fighters on the ground access to U.S. close air support. Obama said the move followed victories that clawed back territory from Islamic State.
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| Canada PM condemns 'cold-blooded murder' of Philippines hostage Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:54 PM PDT  By Andrea Hopkins and Manuel Mogato KANANASKIS, Alberta/MANILA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned on Monday the execution of a Canadian hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants in the Philippines, calling it "an act of cold-blooded murder." John Ridsdel, 68, a former mining executive, was captured by Islamist militants along with three other people in September 2015 while on vacation on a Philippine island. The Philippine army said a severed head was found on a remote island on Monday, five hours after the expiry of a ransom deadline set by militants who had threatened to execute one of four captives. "Canada condemns without reservation the brutality of the hostage-takers and this unnecessary death.
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| Suspected Islamists kill Bangladeshi gay activist working for U.S. embassy Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:18 PM PDT By Ruma Paul DHAKA (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist militants hacked to death a leading Bangladeshi gay rights activist employed by the U.S. embassy and a friend in an apartment in Bangladesh's capital on Monday, police said. The killings took place two days after a university professor was slain in similar fashion on Saturday in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Five or six assailants went to the apartment of Xulhaz Mannan, 35, an editor of Rupban, Bangladesh's first magazine for gay, bisexual and transgender people, and attacked him and a friend with sharp weapons, Dhaka city police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sordar said. |
| Venezuela court blocks another opposition tactic to oust Maduro Posted: 25 Apr 2016 01:50 PM PDT  Venezuela's Supreme Court shot down on Monday one of the opposition's main tactics to oust socialist leader Nicolas Maduro with a ruling that any constitutional amendment to reduce the presidential term could not be retroactive. Having won control of the legislature last year due to public ire over an economic crisis, the opposition coalition is seeking to remove Maduro via popular pressure, constitutional reform or a recall referendum.
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| U.S. challenged China, 12 others on navigation rights last year Posted: 25 Apr 2016 01:19 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military conducted "freedom of navigation" operations against 13 countries last year, including several in dispute of China's claims in the South and East China seas, according to an annual Pentagon report released on Monday. The operations were against China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Oman, the Philippines and Vietnam, the report said. It did not specify how many such operations were conducted against each of those countries.
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| Spain on cusp of new election pending last-ditch political talks Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:09 PM PDT  Spanish political leaders meet King Felipe on Tuesday for a final round of talks to resolve a four-month-old political stalemate, but with a successful outcome unlikely, the stage could be set for a new election. Political parties have been unable to form a new government since an inconclusive election last December, and with less than a week until a deadline to agree on a prime minister, Tuesday's talks are the last chance to broker some form of coalition. After consultations with smaller forces on Monday, King Felipe will on Tuesday meet with leaders of the four main parties in his third attempt to unblock the situation, culminating in a session with caretaker Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the center People's Party (PP).
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| Brazil's main opposition party split on joining a future Temer government Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:53 PM PDT  By Anthony Boadle BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's largest opposition party is divided over how strongly to back a new interim government if it succeeds in having President Dilma Rousseff stripped of office, as it eyes a run at the presidency in 2018, senior members said on Monday. The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) will support a government led by Vice President Michel Temer from the aisles of Congress if the left-leaning Rousseff is unseated next month, but the party is split over whether to join his cabinet. The Senate picked a committee stacked with supporters of impeachment that will report back on whether to put Rousseff on trial on charges of deliberately breaking budget laws to boost her re-election bid in 2014.
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| Pochettino refuses to accept Spurs' title race run Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:49 PM PDT  Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino is not ready to concede the Premier League title to Leicester City despite seeing his side drop precious points in a 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion. Monday's result at White Hart Lane left second-placed Spurs seven points behind longtime leaders Leicester with three matches remaining. Leicester can now clinch the title with a victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday â - the day before Tottenham travel across London to play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
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| Tear gas, arrests as Egypt protesters defy ban Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:47 PM PDT  Egyptian police fired tear gas at protesters in Cairo who defied government warnings and held a rally Monday calling for the "downfall" of the regime, quickly scattering them and making arrests. By Monday morning, police had closed off a street leading to the Journalists' Syndicate, where the protesters had announced they would gather, and deployed in force in central Cairo. Instead about 50 activists, including leading leftist dissidents, gathered suddenly at a square in central Cairo chanting against the government.
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| Gay rights activist among two hacked to death in Bangladesh Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:37 PM PDT  Two leading gay rights activists were hacked to death Monday at an apartment in Bangladesh's capital, police said, the latest deadly attack on minorities in the Muslim-majority nation. Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Maruf Hossain Sorder said at least six men entered the seven-storey building, saying they were there to deliver a parcel to the home of one of the victims. "Unidentified attackers entered an apartment at Kalabagan and hacked two people to death by machetes.
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| Celtics-Hawks, Pacers-Raptors all even going to Game 5 Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:29 PM PDT  ATLANTA (AP) — At this stage of an NBA playoff series, there's not much need for extra film work, no point in making any big adjustments.
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| O'Sullivan out of Snooker World Championship Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:25 PM PDT  Five-time champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was knocked out of this year's World Championship after suffering a dramatic 13-12 defeat by Barry Hawkins in a thrilling all-English second-round clash on Monday. Hawkins, beaten by O'Sullivan in the 2013 final, was on the brink of going through to the last eight at 12-9 up. The 11th-seed's break of 56 gave him the initial advantage in a scrappy final frame before O'Sullivan's in-off saw Hawkins seal victory.
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| Top Asian News 11:15 p.m. GMT Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:15 PM PDT NEW DELHI (AP) — Unidentified assailants fatally stabbed two men in Bangladesh's capital Monday night, including a gay rights activist who also worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, police said, in the latest in a series of attacks targeting atheists, moderates and foreigners. Police said they suspected radical Islamists in the attack, which occurred two days after a university professor was hacked to death. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The victims were identified as USAID employee Xulhaz Mannan, who previously worked as a U.S. Embassy protocol officer, and his friend, Tanay Majumder, according to Mohammed Iqbal, a police officer in Dhaka's Kalabagan area. |
| Argentina: man sentenced to jail after his dog kills toddler Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:15 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A court in Argentina has sentenced the owner of a pit bull dog that killed a two-year old boy to eight years in prison. |
| 2 men including USAID employee killed in Bangladesh Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:15 PM PDT  NEW DELHI (AP) — Unidentified assailants fatally stabbed two men in Bangladesh's capital Monday night, including a gay rights activist who also worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, police said, in the latest in a series of attacks targeting atheists, moderates and foreigners.
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| Venezuela court rejects bill to cut president's term Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:12 PM PDT  Venezuela's Supreme Court on Monday rejected the opposition's latest bid to cut short the term of President Nicolas Maduro, whose opponents blame him for a severe economic crisis. The court ruled that a constitutional amendment proposed by opposition lawmakers could not be applied retroactively or immediately to Maduro's current term as the bill proposed. The opposition vowed to oust Maduro when it took control of the legislature in January after winning elections.
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| Honduras police killed 152 over past two years: watchdog Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:03 PM PDT  The issue of deadly police action is in the headlines in Honduras following press revelations of official documents that appear to show that a cabal of senior police officers took payoffs from a drug kingpin to murder a top anti-drugs official in 2009 and a government security adviser in 2011. The scandal has galvanized Honduras to step up a purge of the police force. "We have recorded 152 deaths in police operations in the last two years, 2014 and 2015, and there were no investigations as to whether the officers killed in self-defense, or if there was excessive use of force," the coordinator of the Violence Observatory at Honduras' National University, Migdonia Ayestas, said.
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| Venezuelan power rationing begins amid protests Posted: 25 Apr 2016 04:01 PM PDT  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — As if daily life in Venezuela wasn't hard enough, people across the crisis-wracked South American country will now have to add electricity to the long list of things they'll have to do without.
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| Turkey's parliament speaker seeks religious constitution Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:52 PM PDT  Turkey should have a religious constitution, parliament speaker Ismail Kahraman said Monday, in comments that will likely add to concerns of creeping Islamisation under the ruling AKP party. "As a Muslim country, why should we be in a situation where we are in retreat from religion?" state-run news agency Anatolia quoted him as saying. "We are a Muslim country.
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| El Salvador official says police executed gang members Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:43 PM PDT SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador's human rights prosecutor said Monday that police and soldiers used excessive force or executed presumed street gang members during two supposed confrontations in 2015. |
| Australia to announce winner of $40 billion submarine contract Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:38 PM PDT  SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will announce on Tuesday whether France, Germany or Japan is the successful bidder for an A$50 billion ($40 billion) contract to build the country's new fleet of submarines, according to sources. Two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said the contract for the 12 new submarines, a centerpiece of Australia's future defense strategy, would be announced within hours. ($1 = 1.2967 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Colin Packham in SYDNEY and Nobuhiro Kubo in TOKYO; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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| Battle over N.C. transgender law intensifies as lawmakers reconvene Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:31 PM PDT  By Marti Maguire RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - Thousands of people flocked to North Carolina's capital on Monday to show both support and disdain for a law that has thrust the state into the international spotlight over its restrictions on transgender bathroom access and gay rights. North Carolina became the first U.S. state to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings and schools that match the sex on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. "Our state is a state of crisis," Chris Sgro, executive director of the Equality North Carolina advocacy group, said in Raleigh before activists delivered petitions to Republican Governor Pat McCrory's office demanding the law's repeal.
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| Bolivia president agrees to paternity test in scandal: media Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:29 PM PDT  Bolivian President Evo Morales is willing to undergo a paternity test to settle a dispute with an ex-girlfriend whose child he denies fathering, news reports said Monday, quoting his lawyer. In a case that has plunged the 56-year-old leader into scandal, Morales had claimed he fathered a child with her which later died, before changing his story to say the child never existed. A court ordered the leftist president to undergo a test to answer claims by his ex-partner Gabriela Zapata that he is indeed the father of her child.
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| Leicester 1 win from Premier League title after Spurs held Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:25 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — Leicester is one victory from becoming one of the unlikeliest champions in English football history — a year after nearly being relegated from the Premier League.
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| Parents of missing Mexican students slam government probe Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:23 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — The parents of 43 missing students who disappeared in September 2014 accused Mexico's government on Monday of lying to them, planting evidence and not adequately investigating the case.
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| AP Explains: GOP battles bailout perception on Puerto Rico Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:15 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Debt-ridden Puerto Rico faces a $422 million bond payment deadline Sunday with no sign Congress will act in time to help.
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| Schwartzel skipping Olympics Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:13 PM PDT  South Africa's Charl Schwartzel has joined compatriot Louis Oosthuizen in deciding to skip this year's Olympics, team captain Gary Player said in a statement on Monday. Just days after Oosthuizen added his name to a lengthening list of golfers who have opted to give the Rio de Janeiro games a miss, world number 20 Schwartzel has followed suit. South African legend Player, who will captain his country's golfers at the Olympics, where golf is returning after a 112-year absence, revealed Schwartzel's decision in a statement released via his Twitter account.
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| Brazil to ask Congress to pass Paris climate deal: minister Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:07 PM PDT  NEW YORK/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's government will ask legislators this week to ratify the Paris climate agreement, the environment minister said late on Sunday, even as President Dilma Rousseff faces possible impeachment and lacks majority support in Congress. It is unclear if Congress would back the pledges of a government that may soon be removed from office. Many lawmakers have left the governing coalition after Rousseff was charged with breaking budget laws to boost her reelection bid in 2014.
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| US detaining more migrants at Mexico border: officials Posted: 25 Apr 2016 03:03 PM PDT  The number of people caught trying to enter the United States illegally from Mexico rose in the first months of this year compared to the same period last year, officials said Monday. The US authorities detained 33,335 people in March, up 11 percent from the same month in 2015, the US Border Patrol said, providing no explanation for why.
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| Eleven dead in Rio Olympics construction over three years: official Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:51 PM PDT  A total of 11 people have been killed over the last three years on construction projects for the Rio Olympics, an official told AFP on Monday. "It's a frightening number," said Robson Leite, inspector for the labor office in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
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| Attack on police sows panic in Acapulco tourist hub Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:46 PM PDT  Gunmen launched two nearly simultaneous attacks against federal police installations in Acapulco's tourist district, sowing panic as people ducked inside restaurants and stores in Mexico's crime-plagued resort, authorities said Monday. A suspect was killed and an officer wounded in the gunfights, which erupted late Sunday outside a hotel housing officers and a federal police building. Hector Astudillo, governor of Guerrero state, which includes Acapulco, said the attacks were a reaction by criminals to the arrest of the suspected local leader of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel.
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| Puerto Rico senators reject amended debt moratorium bill Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:44 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Senators in Puerto Rico say they will not approve an amended bill that would exclude certain bonds issued by the government from a debt moratorium. |
| Trump blasts Cruz-Kasich team up plan as 'collusion' Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:42 PM PDT  Republican presidential rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich have joined forces to deny frontrunner Donald Trump the party's nomination, a controversial move on the eve of Tuesday's critical primaries in five US states. Embracing the ancient Sanskrit proverb "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," Cruz and Kasich unveiled their late-in-the-game ploy, prompting the celebrity billionaire to accuse them of "collusion" and declare the bid an act of desperation. With Trump poised to extend his lead in Tuesday's primaries, Texas Senator Cruz and Ohio governor Kasich agreed late Sunday to what amounted to a non-aggression pact in later primaries.
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| Bus explosion kills two, injures six in Armenian capital Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:40 PM PDT YEREVAN (Reuters) - A blast on a passenger bus killed at least two people in the Armenian capital of Yerevan late on Monday, the Armenian investigative committee spokeswoman said. Sona Truzyan said two were dead and six others were injured in a residential area near the city center. The cause of the explosion was not known, she said, adding that a criminal case would be opened. Investigators were at the site. The Armenian Emergencies Ministry said two of the injured were in a serious condition. ... |
| Burundi general killed as ICC opens probe into atrocities Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:24 PM PDT  A top Tutsi general was gunned down in Burundi on Monday, as international prosecutors announced they were launching a preliminary probe into a litany of atrocities in the troubled central African nation. A wave of unrest, targeted assassinations and alleged torture has left hundreds dead and forced more than 270,000 to flee the country since last April, and some analysts warn Burundi may be on the brink of a new civil war. General Athanase Kararuza, a security advisor to one of Burundi's vice presidents, was killed along with his wife in a gun and grenade attack as they were dropping their daughter off at school in the capital Bujumbura.
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| UN chief calls for Haiti vote Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:19 PM PDT  United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday voiced "deep concern" after another deadline was missed to hold a presidential runoff in Haiti and called for the elections to take place.
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| Canadian executed by Islamic militants in Philippines: Trudeau Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:18 PM PDT  Islamic militants in the Philippines have executed a Canadian hostage, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday, after the Filipino authorities said they had found the head of a foreign man on a remote island. "I'm outraged by the news that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel, held hostage in the Philippines since September 21, 2015, has been killed at the hands of his captors," Trudeau said. Ridsdel, fellow Canadian tourist Robert Hall, Hall's girlfriend Filipina Marites Flor, and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad were kidnapped seven months ago from yachts at a marina near the major city of Davao, more than 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Jolo.
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| Crisis with Guatemala over: Belize PM Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:12 PM PDT  Guatemala is keeping in place hundreds of troops it sent to the border after the shooting incident, which left a 13-year-old Guatemalan boy dead. Morales on Monday said officials were helping the boy's family prepare a complaint against Belize before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Guatemala said Belizean soldiers opened fire on a family of Guatemalans walking home from field labor, killing the boy.
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| Canadian man decapitated by Philippine extremists Posted: 25 Apr 2016 02:12 PM PDT MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the decapitated head of a Caucasian male recovered Monday night in the southern Philippines belongs to one of two Canadians taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf militants in September. |
