| U.S. warns of 'other' options if North Korea continues nuclear, missile tests Posted: 26 Apr 2016 02:54 PM PDT  By Jack Kim and Lesley Wroughton SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States warned on Tuesday it would consider "other" options, which could include new sanctions or security steps, if North Korea continued nuclear and ballistic missile testing. South Korea's Yonhap news agency earlier said North Korea appeared to be preparing a test-launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, after what the United States described as the "fiery, catastrophic" failure of a launch attempt this month. It is widely expected to conduct a fifth nuclear test soon, perhaps ahead of a congress of the ruling Workers Party congress in early May. President Barack Obama said the United States was working on defending itself and its allies against potential threats from North Korea, which he called an "erratic" country with an "irresponsible" leader.
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| U.S. embassy warns citizens in Turkey about 'credible' terrorist threats Posted: 26 Apr 2016 01:56 PM PDT  The United States warned U.S. citizens in Turkey on Tuesday about "credible" terrorist threats to tourist areas in the country. Turkey has been hit by four suicide bombings already this year, most recently in Istanbul last month. Two of the bombings have been blamed on Islamic State, while Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility for the other two.
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| U.S. military used 'roof knock' tactic in Iraq to try to warn civilians before bombing Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:42 PM PDT  By Yeganeh Torbati and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States borrowed an Israeli military tactic known as "roof knocking" to try to warn civilians before it dropped a bomb targeting Islamic State fighters in Iraq this month, but a woman was killed in the attack, a U.S. military official said on Tuesday. The Israeli military used such "roof knocks" in the 2014 Gaza war, but a United Nations commission found in 2015 that the tactic was not effective, because it often caused confusion and did not give residents enough time to escape.
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| Venezuela opposition gets paperwork to start Maduro recall drive Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:24 PM PDT  By Eyanir Chinea and Daniel Kai CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's election board gave opposition leaders on Tuesday a document letting them begin the process of seeking a referendum to remove President Nicolas Maduro, who is under fire over a deepening economic crisis. Triple-digit inflation, Soviet-style production shortages and a severe recession have made the socialist leader broadly unpopular, and the opposition's decisive victory in legislative elections last year has emboldened it to push for a recall vote. "Today we took a first step to begin the recall of Maduro," opposition deputy Elias Matta tweeted.
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| Eleven shot dead in Cape Verde, including two Spanish citizens Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:31 PM PDT  Eleven men were shot dead in Cape Verde on Tuesday, including eight soldiers, a local civilian and two Spanish citizens, the minister of Internal Administration for the archipelago off the African coast said in a statement. The men were killed at a telecommunications site at Monte Tchota, a forested area on Santiago island about 27 km (17 miles) north of the capital, Praia, Minister Paulo Rocha said. "A soldier assigned to the military team itself is missing, and there are strong indications that he was responsible in the events," said Rocha, adding that the victims were 20 to 51 years old.
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| Venezuela decrees two-day week for public sector to save energy Posted: 26 Apr 2016 05:06 PM PDT  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's socialist government ordered public workers on Tuesday to work a two-day week as an energy-saving measure in the crisis-hit South American OPEC country. President Nicolas Maduro had already given most of Venezuela's 2.8 million state employees Fridays off during April and May to cut down on electricity consumption. "We have decided to add Wednesdays and Thursdays as non-working days off for the public sector," Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz told state TV during a visit to the Guri dam and hydroelectric plant in south Venezuela. ...
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| EPA calls for U.S. drinking water plan in wake of Flint crisis Posted: 26 Apr 2016 05:02 PM PDT  A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency official on Tuesday called for the development of a national plan to better protect the nation's drinking water, citing the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Michigan. Joel Beauvais, deputy assistant administrator for the EPA's Office of Water, said in a blog post that agency management will meet with state, local government and public health officials next month. The EPA will release an action plan by the end of the year, he said.
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| Thirty years on, Ukraine mourns victims of Chernobyl Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:48 PM PDT  Ukrainians held candlelit vigils Tuesday to mark 30 years since the world's worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl spewed radiation across Europe and left several thousand people dead or dying. Church bells rang and mourners laid flowers at Chernobyl's memorial square as the clock turned 1:23 am -- the moment the plant's reactor number four exploded and changed the fate of a generation living across the former Soviet Union. At least 30 people were killed on site and several thousand more are feared to have died from radiation in what Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said "appears to have been the world's largest man-made catastrophe".
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| UN office 'concerned' over Mexico missing students case Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:38 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said Tuesday that it is troubled by a group of international experts' complaints of obstacles to their investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico.
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| Venezuela enforces public sector leave on three weekdays Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:37 PM PDT  Venezuela's government Tuesday announced enforced leave for public sector workers from Wednesday to Friday, meaning they will only work two days a week in efforts to tackle an electricity shortage. "There will be no work in the public sector on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, except for fundamental and necessary tasks," Vice President Aristobulo Isturiz said on television. President Nicolas Maduro's government had already cut the work day for the country's two million public sector employees to six hours and put them on paid leave on Fridays until June 6.
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| 33 lions saved from South American circuses heading home Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:33 PM PDT LIMA, Peru (AP) — Thirty-three lions rescued from circuses in Peru and Colombia are heading back to their homeland to live out the rest of their lives in a private sanctuary in South Africa. |
| Water trains bring scant relief to drought-ravaged Indian state Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:31 PM PDT  By Rajendra Jadhav LATUR, India (Reuters) - Haribhau Kamble, an unemployed laborer in India's richest state of Maharashtra, is forced to queue for hours in scorching heat to fetch water even as the government puts on trains to ship water to the region parched by back-to-back drought years. Like Kamble, millions of Indians have been hung out to dry in the state with the worst drought in four decades ravaging crops, killing livestock, emptying reservoirs and slowing hydroelectric power output. Mismanagement of water resources, with powerful politicians pushing for bigger supplies to industries, have made the situation worse, experts say.
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| Best and worst of times: Rio Olympic countdown hits 100 days Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:30 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Two years ago, the Australian IOC member John Coates called the preparations for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics "the worst" in recent memory.
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| AU wades into UN dispute over Western Sahara Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:27 PM PDT  The African Union's envoy for Western Sahara warned at the United Nations on Tuesday that the conflict in the disputed north African territory could re-ignite again unless steps are taken to find a settlement. Mozambique's former president Joaquim Chissano spoke at a special Security Council meeting just days before the 15-member council is to vote on renewing the mandate of the UN peace mission in Western Sahara. The council has been divided over how to salvage the MINURSO mission after Morocco expelled 84 staffers in retaliation for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's use of the term "occupation" to describe Western Sahara.
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| Stanford climate activists slam university over fossil fuel vote Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:23 PM PDT  By Rory Carroll SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Stanford University's announcement on Monday that it will not rid its $22 billion endowment of oil and gas companies has raised the ire of campus climate activists, who said on Tuesday they will protest the decision. Activists felt they had momentum on their side after Stanford two years ago said it would no longer invest in coal mining companies, whose products are a major contributor to global climate change. The University of California last year agreed to sell off about $200 million in direct holdings in coal and oil sands companies.
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| US health secretary in Puerto Rico amid Zika outbreak Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:20 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services is in Puerto Rico to oversee the U.S. territory's response to a Zika outbreak. |
| More urgent action needed on air pollution in Britain-MPs Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:19 PM PDT  By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - A government plan to tackle air pollution in five major cities in Britain by 2020 will not be enough and more urgent action needs to be taken, lawmakers said on Wednesday. Britain has some of the highest levels in Europe of the pollutant nitrogen dioxide, which is produced by diesel vehicles, and has already breached EU limits. Last year, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it would introduce so-called clean air zones in areas of Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham, Derby and Southampton by 2020 in a bid to improve air quality.
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| Venezuela paves way for petition to recall Maduro Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:17 PM PDT  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's electoral council on Tuesday took steps to allow opponents of President Nicolas Maduro to try and initiate a recall referendum against the socialist leader.
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| Curbing EU migration would hurt British firms, study says Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:15 PM PDT  British hotels, restaurants and food processing and construction firms would all struggle if they were no longer allowed to recruit European Union migrants into low-skilled jobs, according to a new study on Wednesday. Curbing migration is a key goal for many Britons who plan to vote to leave the EU in a referendum on June 23, but many firms believe the economic cost would be large, Britain's National Institute of Economic and Social Research said. "From the perspective of employers in low-paid sectors, free movement works pretty well," NIESR researcher Heather Rolfe said.
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| Yu Darvish wants to see how he feels, but closer to game Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:09 PM PDT ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Texas Rangers ace Yu Darvish wanted to wait a day after his latest live batting practice session before deciding if he is ready for a minor league rehab start. |
| Judge: No evidence against Puerto Rican in renowned killing Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:06 PM PDT SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A judge in Puerto Rico has ruled there is not enough evidence to charge a man recently arrested in the killing of a young boy in a case that has transfixed the U.S. territory for six years. |
| US Steel files trade complaint against big Chinese producers Posted: 26 Apr 2016 04:00 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — United States Steel Corp. has filed a complaint with U.S. regulators against the biggest Chinese steel producers, accusing them of conspiring to fix prices, stealing trade secrets and skirting duties on imports in the U.S. with false labeling. |
| US military conducts cyber attacks on IS Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:58 PM PDT  The US military is now conducting cyber attacks on the Islamic State group, a general said Tuesday as the Pentagon looks to accelerate the fight against the jihadists. "We have now begun to use our exquisite cyber capabilities in this fight against Daesh," Baghdad-based Major General Peter Gersten told Pentagon reporters, using an acronym that comes from the group's name in Arabic. In February, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and the US military's top officer, General Joe Dunford, said the United States was determined to "accelerate" the anti-IS campaign, and indicated cyber warfare would play an increasingly important role in doing so.
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| North Korea to open ruling Workers' Party congress on May 6 Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:46 PM PDT  North Korea announced on Wednesday that its ruling Workers' Party congress will open on May 6, ending its silence on the exact starting date of the first such conference in 36 years. The plan, first announced in October, calls for a rare party conference, at which analysts expect North Korea to formally adopt leader Kim Jong Un's "byongjin" policy to simultaneously push for economic development and nuclear weapons capability. North Korea's last party conference was held in 1980, before the birth of Kim, who is believed to be 33.
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| Tornadoes hit central U.S. states with severe weather on tap Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:42 PM PDT Tornadoes were spotted in two central states on Tuesday as the National Weather Service warned large swaths of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas could be hit by twisters, destructive hail and high winds. There were reports of one tornado in Kansas and another in Oklahoma but no indication they caused any major damage or injuries. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch extending from Texas into southern Nebraska and a severe thunderstorm watch for large parts of Missouri and into Pennsylvania. |
| Havana archbishop who played key role in U.S.-Cuba detente retires Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:41 PM PDT  By Marc Frank HAVANA (Reuters) - The Cuban Catholic Church leader who became an influential figure within a country where he was once despised and played a key role in the Communist-run island's detente with the United States, is retiring. Pope Francis accepted Cardinal Jaime Ortega's resignation as Archbishop of Havana, first submitted four years ago when he turned 75, the Vatican wrote in a statement on Tuesday. The Pope named Juan de la Caridad Garcia Rodriguez, the archbishop of the city of Camaguey in central Cuba, as the new archbishop of the capital.
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| Greece set to miss May 1 target on bailout deal Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:40 PM PDT ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A senior European official says Greece has failed to reach a deal with bailout lenders before a May 1 target date set by Athens. |
| New force raids El Salvador gang districts Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:27 PM PDT  Police and soldiers in El Salvador raided parts of the capital on Tuesday under a new campaign to break the reign of vicious gangs, officials said. Last week, authorities launched an elite Special Reaction Force of 1,000 police and troops to hunt gang leaders trying to take refuge in remote rural area and mountains. Its units are known as the Interventional and Territorial Recovery Forces, or FIRT under the Spanish acronym.
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| If they build a golf course, will they come to Olympics? Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:26 PM PDT  Building the new golf course in Rio de Janeiro in time for the Olympics once was considered the biggest obstacle.
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| Saudi reform plans flirt with social change Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:25 PM PDT  By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Reforms promised by a young Saudi prince are couched in references to the kingdom's Islamic tradition but include ideas likely to upset some conservatives, risking future ruptures over the direction of society. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's "Vision 2030" plan, which the 31-year-old announced on Monday, largely aims to transform Saudi Arabia's economy in an era of low oil prices and made few specific pledges of social change. For the Al Saud dynasty, which has always ruled in alliance with the powerful clergy of the kingdom's semi-official Wahhabi school of Sunni Islam, that may require care in how far to risk a conservative backlash.
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| Search team finds 'black box' from sunken El Faro ship Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:23 PM PDT  The black box from the doomed cargo ship El Faro, which sank last October during Hurricane Joaquin, was located early Tuesday after a months-long search, according to US authorities. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a statement that the data recorder was located in 15,000 feet of water, about 41 miles (36 nautical miles) northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas. The El Faro sank when it was caught by Hurricane Joaquin on October 1, killing its entire crew of 33 people, mostly Americans and five Poles.
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| Without Ronaldo, Madrid holds City 0-0 in Champions League Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:15 PM PDT  MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Real Madrid failed to turn late domination into a goal without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo as Manchester City held on for a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Tuesday.
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| Cuba cardinal, key to better US ties, steps down Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:14 PM PDT  Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the Catholic church's top official in Havana and a promoter of closer ties with the United States, will be leaving the post, the Vatican announced Tuesday. Pope Francis accepted his retirement, shortly before Ortega is to turn 80, the Vatican said in a statement. The Cuban-born cardinal has been seen as a practical figure in Cuba's slow and painful post-Cold War life.
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| Greece sends another 49 migrants back to Turkey Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:08 PM PDT  Greece returned another 49 migrants to Turkey on Tuesday under a controversial EU-Turkey deal to reduce the influx, a police source said, three weeks after the first deportations. The latest expulsions came as tensions flared at a migrants' camp on the Greek island of Lesbos during a visit by Migration Minister Yannis Mouzalas. A government source told AFP that a "misunderstanding" triggered a disturbance at the Moria camp on Lesbos, one of several Greek islands that have seen a massive influx of migrants setting sail from nearby Turkey.
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| EPA orders Mitsubishi to conduct new vehicle testing Posted: 26 Apr 2016 03:07 PM PDT  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it ordered Mitsubishi Motors Corp to provide additional information and conduct new tests of U.S. vehicles after the Japanese automaker's admission that it did not properly follow fuel economy test procedures in Japan since 1991. Mitsubishi said earlier on Tuesday that it used fuel economy testing methods that did not comply with Japanese regulations for 25 years, much longer than previously known. EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen said the agency has instructed Mitsubishi to "provide additional information regarding their U.S. vehicles.
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| Venezuela opposition authorized to seek referendum against president Posted: 26 Apr 2016 02:59 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's opponents advanced Tuesday in their mission to drive him from office when electoral authorities gave them authorization to take initial steps seeking a recall referendum. The National Electoral Board said it would hand over the paperwork allowing them to seek nearly 200,000 signatures needed as a first step towards calling a referendum. It is one of the legal means the opposition is trying to use to oust Maduro, whom it blames for the country's severe economic crisis.
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| Fans 'unlawfully killed' in Hillsborough football disaster Posted: 26 Apr 2016 02:57 PM PDT  The 96 Liverpool fans who died in the Hillsborough football stadium disaster were unlawfully killed, a jury has concluded, finding Britain's worst sporting tragedy was partly down to police errors. Relatives had been incensed by a 1991 inquest ruling the deaths were accidental, and there were shouts of "Yes!" in court when the jury's verdicts were delivered, with people jumping to their feet. "We have had two years of hell going up and down to the court each day, but the only thing I can say at the end of it today: it has been well worth it," said Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died at the stadium in Sheffield, northern England.
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