| Brazil's Temer calls for unity, confidence for Brazil recovery Posted: 12 May 2016 03:22 PM PDT  By Lisandra Paraguassu and Alonso Soto BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's interim President Michel Temer called on his country to rally behind his government of "national salvation," hours after the Senate voted to suspend and put on trial his leftist predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, for breaking budget laws. Temer, a 75-year-old centrist, told Brazilians to have "confidence" that Latin America's biggest country would overcome an ongoing crisis marked by a deep economic recession, political volatility and a sprawling corruption scandal. "It is urgent we calm the nation and unite Brazil," said Temer, after a signing ceremony for his incoming cabinet.
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| U.S. troops stationed at Libya outposts: Washington Post Posted: 12 May 2016 03:15 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. special operations troops have been stationed at two outposts in Libya since late last year to try to enlist local support for a possible offensive against Islamic State, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing U.S. officials. Two teams totaling fewer than 25 troops are operating from around the cities of Misurata and Benghazi to seek potential allies and glean intelligence on threats, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, the newspaper reported. (Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Eric Beech)
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| Islamic State kills 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs Posted: 12 May 2016 03:55 PM PDT  By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State insurgents killed at least 17 Iraqi soldiers with suicide truck bombs on Thursday in a major attack on government forces that recaptured the western city of Ramadi in December, military officials said. The jihadist group also killed two policemen and wounded eight others in two suicide bombings in Abu Ghraib outside Baghdad, a day after killing at least 80 people in bombings at an outdoor market and two checkpoints inside the capital. The attacks near Ramadi dealt one of the heaviest blows to the army since it drove Islamic State out of the western city five months ago.
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| U.S. activates Romanian missile defense site, angering Russia Posted: 12 May 2016 01:20 PM PDT  By Robin Emmott DEVESELU, Romania (Reuters) - The United States switched on an $800 million missile shield in Romania on Thursday that it sees as vital to defend itself and Europe from so-called rogue states but the Kremlin says is aimed at blunting its own nuclear arsenal. To the music of military bands at the remote Deveselu air base, senior U.S. and NATO officials declared operational the ballistic missile defense site, which is capable of shooting down rockets from countries such as Iran that Washington says could one day reach major European cities. "As long as Iran continues to develop and deploy ballistic missiles, the United States will work with its allies to defend NATO," said U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, standing in front of the shield's massive gray concrete housing that was adorned with a U.S. flag.
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| Four killed, 17 wounded in blast in southeast Turkey: sources Posted: 12 May 2016 02:51 PM PDT Four suspected bomb makers were killed and 17 people wounded when an explosion ripped through a village in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast, security sources and the Interior Ministry said. The blast occurred at about 10:30 p.m. (3.30 p.m. ET) in the Sarikamis district, about 25 km (15 miles) from the region's biggest city of Diyarbakir, as Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants loaded explosives onto a small truck, according to the Interior Ministry. A photograph taken from a police helicopter and provided to reporters by the Interior Ministry showed what appeared to be a massive crater in a field caused by the explosion. |
| Thailand's opposition muted ahead of referendum Posted: 12 May 2016 04:13 PM PDT  By Amy Sawitta Lefevre KHON KAEN, Thailand (Reuters) - In northeast Thailand, once a hotbed of opposition to Thailand's junta, troops patrol university campuses in Humvees and hold "attitude adjustment sessions" at military camps for those who don't toe the line. Two years after a military coup, the constrained opposition is struggling to mount a campaign against an Aug. 7 referendum on a junta-backed draft constitution, its first test of popularity since the May 2014 coup. The junta has imposed restrictions on even debating the draft constitution, which critics say could enshrine military power for years to come.
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| New era for Brazil as Rousseff cedes power to Temer Posted: 12 May 2016 04:48 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Brazil entered a new era Thursday as interim president Michel Temer took power from suspended leader Dilma Rousseff, installing a business-friendly government that ends 13 years of leftist rule in Latin America's biggest nation. The center-right former vice president wasted no time in putting his stamp on Brazil, naming a new government he said would restore "credibility" after months of economic and political turmoil. One key nomination was a respected former central bank chief, Henrique Meirelles, for finance minister, with the task of helping the huge economy claw out of the deepest recession in decades.
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| Lowry sets back-9 record with a 29 to turn fortunes Posted: 12 May 2016 04:45 PM PDT  PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Shane Lowry was dreading the opening round of The Players Championship. He wound up in the record book.
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| Japanese tourist returns to Niagara Falls to take on suspect Posted: 12 May 2016 04:44 PM PDT  NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) — After being violently thrown to the ground and robbed of her purse and shoes during her first visit to Niagara Falls, Japanese tourist Koyuki Nakahara thought she would never return.
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| Rousseff's fall in Brazil casts cloud on Cuba Posted: 12 May 2016 04:41 PM PDT  By Marc Frank and Anthony Boadle HAVANA/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's suspension from office is bad news for newly trendy Cuba, which despite a detente with Washington is feeling the pinch from a downturn ravaging allies' economies and political fortunes in South America and Africa. Friends such as Venezuela, Brazil and Angola for years used revenue from a commodities boom to pay for Cuban medical and educational services, turning it into the communist-run island's main source of hard currency. President Raul Castro's detente with the United States has helped drive up tourism to record highs but income from the influx of foreign visitors were only about one-third of the $7 billion from health and education exports in 2014.
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| APNewsBreak: Russian soccer team has surprise meldonium test Posted: 12 May 2016 04:36 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — FIFA doping testers turned up unannounced Thursday to collect samples from Russian soccer team FC Rostov amid suspicions of meldonium use during its surprise pursuit of the league title. |
| Brazil's acting president promises to jumpstart economy Posted: 12 May 2016 04:23 PM PDT  BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Picking up Brazil's reins after the Senate voted to suspend President Dilma Rousseff, acting President Michel Temer pledged Thursday to jumpstart the stalled economy and push ahead with a sprawling corruption investigation that has already ensnared top leaders of his own party and even implicated Temer himself.
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| Modi reforms flicker in rural India, other big challenges remain Posted: 12 May 2016 04:17 PM PDT  By Tommy Wilkes and Rupam Jain RAMPARA KISANA, India (Reuters) - For Indian farmer Sompal Singh, the light bulb that flickers outside his mud hut home is a symbol of progress: the first time electricity from the grid has reached his remote village since independence in 1947. It is also a big deal for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to provide electricity to every village before the end of 2018 and is trying to woo the huge rural population ahead of a key election in Uttar Pradesh state next year. "The (electricity) supply is erratic but we are happy that there has been a start," said Singh, a 37-year-old father of three, who employs a bullock to work the fields in Rampara Kisana, six hours' drive east of New Delhi.
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| Map could aid fight by indigenous people for Central America land Posted: 12 May 2016 04:11 PM PDT  By Sebastien Malo NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A new map shows areas occupied by indigenous people in Central America, using previously untapped native knowledge, that could help claims by local tribes to ancestral land amid rapid deforestation, its makers said. The map shows major overlaps between areas where indigenous people live and where forest is preserved, bolstering the argument that they are critical to protecting natural resources, said Grethel Aguilar, regional director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which made the map. "This map shows that where indigenous people live, you will find the best preserved natural resources," she said in a statement.
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| Shell shuts wells to Brutus platform after spill off Louisiana Posted: 12 May 2016 03:59 PM PDT A 2,100-barrel oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico forced Royal Dutch Shell on Thursday to shut in all wells that flow to its Brutus platform, federal regulators said. The U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) said a 2 mile by 13 mile (about 3 km by 21 km) sheen was visible in the sea about 97 miles off the Louisiana coast. The sheen is near Shell's Glider Field, a group of four subsea wells whose production flows through a subsea manifold to the Brutus platform, which sits in water with a depth of 2,900 feet (884 m). |
| UK hails progress, defends tax havens at corruption summit Posted: 12 May 2016 03:54 PM PDT  Prime Minister David Cameron hailed progress on pursuing corrupt individuals at an international summit on Thursday, but rejected accusations he had failed to deliver transparency on Britain's overseas tax havens. More than 40 countries signed a declaration to "pursue and punish" those who perpetrate or facilitate corruption, and individual nations agreed a range of initiatives to open up anonymous company ownership and recover stolen assets. Countries have gone further than ever before in condemning corruption and pledging to drive it out," Cameron said.
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| Argentina's capital reports highest inflation in 14 years Posted: 12 May 2016 03:41 PM PDT  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Inflation in the capital's metropolitan area reached 6.5 percent in April, the biggest monthly price jump since Argentina's worst economic crisis 14 years ago, the Buenos Aires statistics agency reported Thursday.
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| Tunisia says dozens of jihadists arrested in latest raids Posted: 12 May 2016 03:41 PM PDT  The Tunisian government said Thursday that 37 suspects, including several jihadists linked to the Islamic State group, had been arrested in the security operations carried out the previous day. Another 21 other suspects were arrested in raids that followed, the ministry added. In a deadly confrontation that erupted during one of the raids in the Tataouine governorate, four policemen were killed when a militant detonated his explosives belt after a firefight erupted.
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| Delivery of supplies not enough to end Haiti hospital strike Posted: 12 May 2016 04:58 PM PDT  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The health ministry delivered a truckload of medical supplies to Haiti's biggest public hospital Thursday, but resident doctors said it wouldn't come close to ending a strike that has spread through the economically straitened health system.
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| Reduced fire threat, but still no return for Canada evacuees Posted: 12 May 2016 03:31 PM PDT  The threat posed by the massive fire that led to the evacuation of Fort McMurray, Canada has diminished, but it will take time before residents can return home, officials said Thursday. "As the immediate threat has been reduced, we're shifting to stabilization and recovery for reentree when it's safe to do so," the province of Alberta's Minister of Municipal Affairs Danielle Larivee said during a press conference. "I know that this is not the news that Fort McMurray and area residents wanted to hear.
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| Trump, Republican leaders hold 'positive' talks in Washington Posted: 12 May 2016 03:31 PM PDT  Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump fell short of winning an endorsement from House Speaker Paul Ryan Thursday but both men said they had taken a "positive step" toward unifying the party behind the billionaire's remarkable White House run. Trump, facing a critical early test of his general election candidacy, met with Ryan to air their differences, and with other Republican leaders. In a joint statement afterward, Trump and Ryan called their meeting a "positive step toward unification" and stressed the party's paramount goal is to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.
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| Olympic uniforms: Colorful in shades of red, yellow and blue Posted: 12 May 2016 03:23 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Staff and volunteers at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics will be unmissable at venues thanks to their colorful uniforms unveiled on Thursday.
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| Solar Impulse 2 leaves Arizona on record-breaking flight Posted: 12 May 2016 03:21 PM PDT  The Solar Impulse 2 plane took off from Arizona en route to Oklahoma on Thursday, resuming its record-breaking quest to circle the globe without consuming a drop of fuel. The experimental solar-powered aircraft, piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard, took off at 3:00 am (1000 GMT), for the latest stage of its around-the-world flight aimed at promoting clean energy technologies. A photo tweeted earlier from the aircraft showed a view of its tail as Solar Impulse flew in a sunny sky, above small puffs of white that cast shadows on the ground.
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| Lochte having too much fun right now to think about retiring Posted: 12 May 2016 03:14 PM PDT  CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Ryan Lochte is having too much fun preparing for Rio Games in three months to even think about competing in his fifth Olympics in 2020.
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| Kuwaiti football clubs confident as FIFA eyes lifting ban Posted: 12 May 2016 03:07 PM PDT  A delegation from Kuwaiti clubs lobbying for the FIFA Congress to lift a suspension of the nation's football association is confident of victory ahead of Friday's vote in Mexico City. "So far, we have received a lot of support from the FIFA family and we are very optimistic," said Saad Al-Hootie, captain of the Kuwait team that reached the 1982 World Cup in Spain. FIFA suspended the Kuwait Football Association (KFA) last October after finding the government had interfered in the group's affairs, leading to three World Cup qualifying match forfeits.
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| Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders to meet on Karabakh truce on Monday Posted: 12 May 2016 02:58 PM PDT  Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will meet on Monday in Vienna to discuss a fragile truce in the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region after the worst clashes in decades, mediators said Thursday. Top diplomats from the United States, Russia and France, who are spearheading efforts to end the decades-long feud, are expected to participate in the talks aimed at strengthening a tenuous ceasefire hammered out by Moscow. "A meeting between the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan is being planned for next week," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
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| US gives Tunisia military hardware to bolster security Posted: 12 May 2016 02:56 PM PDT  The United States on Thursday delivered military hardware to Tunisia to help the North African country hit by several Islamic State group attacks secure its borders and battle terrorism. Light aircraft, jeeps and communications systems were part of the equipment handed over at a ceremony attended by US official Amanda Dory and Tunisian Defence Minister Farhat Horchani. Dory, the US deputy assistant secretary of defence for African affairs, said the equipment was part of a $20-million package to bolster Tunisia's military capabilities.
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| Passenger gets probation for placing fake bomb on plane Posted: 12 May 2016 02:48 PM PDT PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A U.S. passenger who placed a fake bomb in a restroom during an international flight — and then reported it to look like a hero — has avoided a prison term. |
| Panama's ex-dictator Noriega has brain tumor: doctor Posted: 12 May 2016 02:48 PM PDT  Manuel Noriega, Panama's imprisoned former dictator ousted in a 1989 US invasion of his country, has a brain tumor needing surgery, his doctor, family and lawyer said on Thursday. The tumor, in the right parietal lobe, is not cancerous but has caused him seizures and falls, and "everything indicates an operation is needed," his personal physician, Eduardo Reyes, told AFP. Noriega, who had previously worked with the CIA, ruled over Panama from 1983 until the US military invaded on December 20, 1989 and captured him.
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| Experience helping Pagenaud make early championship push Posted: 12 May 2016 02:37 PM PDT  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Simon Pagenaud is all business this week in Indianapolis.
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| 'We must restore Brazil's credibility': acting president Posted: 12 May 2016 02:35 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's acting president Michel Temer said Thursday his new cabinet must work to restore the country's "credibility," in his first address after assuming power from suspended predecessor Dilma Rousseff pending her impeachment trial. "We must significantly improve the business environment for the private sector... and rebalance the government's budget," the center-right leader said after installing his new business-friendly cabinet in a ceremony at the presidential palace, ending 13 years of leftist rule. Extending an olive branch to the left after a divisive battle over Rousseff's impeachment, he called for "dialogue" on the multiple crises facing Latin America's largest country, which is deep in recession and reeling from a far-reaching corruption scandal.
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| How the storm clouds massed for Brazil impeachment Posted: 12 May 2016 02:33 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - After months of the storm clouds massing, lightning struck President Dilma Rousseff on Thursday with Brazil's Senate ejecting her from office as it moves towards her likely impeachment. The Senate will decide over the coming months whether to definitively remove Rousseff as head of state on charges she fudged the government budget to cover up shortfalls ahead of her 2014 reelection. On October 26, 2014, Rousseff was narrowly reelected Brazil's president for another four-year mandate, continuing the policies of her much more popular predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known universally as Lula.
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| U.S. lawmakers put pressure on EPA over handling of glyphosate review Posted: 12 May 2016 02:27 PM PDT By P.J. Huffstutter CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers have asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to explain why it published - and then withdrew - documents related to its review of glyphosate, the chemical in Monsanto Co's Roundup herbicide, according to a letter seen by Reuters. The documents, which included a report that said glyphosate is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans, were posted by the EPA on April 29 and taken down from a website the government agency manages on May 2. The letter, sent from the agriculture committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, marks the latest salvo in an ongoing debate over the EPA's role and influence in U.S. agriculture. |
| Cuba dissidents present slate of candidates for 2017 election Posted: 12 May 2016 02:27 PM PDT  Opposition leaders said Thursday they plan to present a slate of candidates for next year's legislative and local elections, an act of political defiance in communist-governed Cuba. The move, technically illegal in this one-party state, comes the same year that President Raul Castro leaves office, a post he has held since February 2008. Manuel Cuesta Morua, spokesman for the opposition activists who are technically banned but tolerated in practice, said that around 90 candidates would be put forward, to promote "free and pluralistic" elections on the island.
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| Al-Qaida, hard-line rebels seize Alawite village in Syria Posted: 12 May 2016 02:26 PM PDT  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Al-Qaida fighters and other ultraconservative Sunni insurgents seized a predominantly Alawite village in central Syria on Thursday, sparking fears of sectarian violence as families from the village were reported missing by activists.
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| Tomic says he won't play for Australia at Rio Olympics Posted: 12 May 2016 02:25 PM PDT SYDNEY (AP) — Bernard Tomic has ruled himself out of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics for Australia, saying in a statement on Friday that a busy playing schedule and personal circumstances were the reasons. |
