| EgyptAir jet vanishes after mid-air plunge over Mediterranean Posted: 19 May 2016 03:50 PM PDT  By Lin Noueihed and George Georgiopoulos CAIRO/ATHENS (Reuters) - An EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean on Thursday in what Egypt said could have been a terrorist attack. The Egyptian civil aviation ministry initially said Greek authorities had found "floating material" and life jackets likely to be from the plane, an Airbus A320. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the civil aviation ministry, the army's search and rescue center, the navy, and the air force to take all necessary measures to locate debris from the aircraft.
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| Second 'Chibok girl' rescued, says Nigerian army Posted: 19 May 2016 03:25 PM PDT  By Alexis Akwagyiram and Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) - A second girl who was among more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in a raid on their school in the northeastern Nigerian town of Chibok more than two years ago has been rescued, a spokesman for the Nigerian army said on Thursday. An emailed statement carried by PR Nigeria, an official government agency which releases information, said army spokesman Sani Usman had "confirmed the rescue of another Chibok Girl this evening," adding that more details would be provided later. Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, the first girl to be rescued, was found by soldiers working with a vigilante group on Tuesday near Damboa, south of Maiduguri in the remote northeast where Boko Haram has waged a seven-year insurgency to set up an Islamic state.
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| Wary China watches as Taiwan inaugurates first woman president Posted: 19 May 2016 04:32 PM PDT  Tsai Ing-wen is to be inaugurated Taiwan's first woman president on Friday, with the export-driven economy on the ropes and wary Communist Party rulers in China watching for any move toward independence by an island it considers its own. Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won parliamentary and presidential elections by a landslide in January on voter backlash against creeping dependence on China. There were massive protests in 2014 against a trade pact with China that the previous government had sought to push through.
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| French authorities ask Belgium to give in four suspects tied to Paris attacks Posted: 19 May 2016 12:43 PM PDT  French authorities have asked their Belgian counterparts to transfer four suspects currently under investigation for the Paris attacks last November, a judicial source said on Thursday. Three of them - Mohamed Amri, Hamza Attou and Ali Oulkadi - are suspected of having helped Salah Abdeslam, the prime suspect in the attacks, to escape, the source told Reuters. The fourth suspected person Paris wants to extradite is Mohamed Bakkali, the source added.
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| NATO agrees bigger Mediterranean mission to stop smugglers Posted: 19 May 2016 12:10 PM PDT  By Robin Emmott and Lesley Wroughton BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO agreed on Thursday to broaden its operations in the Mediterranean to help the European Union stop criminals trafficking refugees from North Africa but will not act until the fate of rescued migrants is cleared up. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said a meeting of NATO foreign ministers supported the wider role as Europe struggles with failing states on its fringes and said NATO should link up with the EU's "Sophia" naval mission in the area. This could be a step toward NATO helping stabilize Libya by patrolling coastal waters to uphold a U.N. arms embargo and counter the growing presence of Islamic State, a step that would likely need U.N. Security Council support, diplomats said.
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| Canadian firefighters make progress against fire in oil sands region Posted: 19 May 2016 04:44 PM PDT  By Nia Williams and Eric M. Johnson CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Firefighters made progress against a wildfire in the Fort McMurray region of northern Alberta on Thursday as a shift in winds pushed it away from communities and oil sands facilities. On Thursday, it moved to the neighboring province of Saskatchewan, but Alberta wildfire officer Chad Morrison said cooler weather and rain would aid efforts to get it under control. Morrison said the burned area equals the total consumed in last year's entire fire season.
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| Canada PM Trudeau says 'I am human' after fracas, cites job pressures Posted: 19 May 2016 04:48 PM PDT  By Andrea Hopkins and David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, under fire for getting involved in an unprecedented physical fracas in Parliament, said on Thursday that he was only human and in a high pressure job but promised there would be no repeat of his actions. Trudeau, impatient at what he saw as stalling tactics by the opposition ahead of a vote on Wednesday evening, crossed the floor in the House of Commons to grab one legislator and drag him to his seat, accidentally elbowing another in the chest.
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| Family ties make Wembley return special for Bolasie Posted: 19 May 2016 04:45 PM PDT  While the FA Cup final will always inspire a degree of reverence, Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie will have more reason than most to feel emotional at Wembley on Saturday. Bolasie grew up just a few miles from Wembley and could see the famous stadium glimmering in the distance from his parents' house in Hillingdon Borough. Bolasie's father followed the Eagles all over the country to watch his son in action and his death in August inevitably proved hard for the Palace star to take.
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| US, Britain, France, Germany back business with Iran Posted: 19 May 2016 04:44 PM PDT  Foreign banks and businesses should not hold back from conducting legal business with Iran, Western powers said Friday. In a joint statement released after talks in Brussels, the United States, the European Union, France, Britain and Germany sought to reassure companies that, after the Iran nuclear deal, certain forms of trade are permitted. "We will not stand in the way of permitted business activity with Iran," the four powers plus the European Union said.
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| Mocked Martial becomes Manchester United's FA Cup charm Posted: 19 May 2016 04:42 PM PDT  He started the season derided as an expensive panic buy, but Anthony Martial goes into Saturday's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace as the potential saviour of Manchester United's season. United captain Wayne Rooney had to ask Morgan Schneiderlin, Martial's France team-mate, who the club's star signing was. United manager Louis van Gaal made a point of emphasising Martial's "great potential" and said that it would be his successor in the dug-out, rather than the Dutchman himself, who would see the best of the young forward.
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| Second Chibok girl found as Nigerian president meets first rescued student Posted: 19 May 2016 04:41 PM PDT  A second Chibok schoolgirl has been rescued, Nigeria's army said Thursday, after President Muhammadu Buhari met the first student to be found and voiced fresh hope for the recovery of the more than 200 others still being held. Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said the student was found by troops and civilian vigilantes at about 11:00 am (1000 GMT) on Thursday in the Damboa area of Borno state, northeast Nigeria, during military operations. A photograph released by the military showed a young woman in a long, dark blue hijab common in the region and seen on abducted girls in previous videos from the Boko Haram Islamist militant group.
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| Echoes of 1990 as Man Utd face Palace in FA Cup final Posted: 19 May 2016 04:39 PM PDT  Manchester United will attempt to salvage something from their tumultuous season -- and potentially keep manager Louis van Gaal in a job -- in Saturday's FA Cup final against Crystal Palace. After failing to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in three years, the Wembley showpiece represents United's last chance to make good on a campaign of stagnant football and simmering fan dissent. Van Gaal was booed as he addressed supporters following Tuesday's 3-1 home win over Bournemouth and although victory against Palace would give United their first significant piece of silverware since Alex Ferguson left in 2013, reports suggest that his days at Old Trafford are numbered regardless.
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| Uruguay's Mujica: Venezuela's Maduro is 'crazy as a goat' Posted: 19 May 2016 04:36 PM PDT  MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica says embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is "crazy as a goat."
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| Mika Miyazato shoots 65 to take Kingsmill Championship lead Posted: 19 May 2016 04:21 PM PDT  WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Mika Miyazato had five birdies in a six-hole stretch and finished with a 6-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Kingsmill Championship.
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| China demands end to U.S. surveillance after aircraft intercept Posted: 19 May 2016 04:18 PM PDT By Idrees Ali and Megha Rajagopalan WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing demanded an end to U.S. surveillance near China on Thursday after two of its fighter jets carried out what the Pentagon said was an "unsafe" intercept of a U.S. military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident, likely to increase tension in and around the contested waterway, took place in international airspace on Tuesday as the plane carried out "a routine U.S. patrol," a Pentagon statement said. |
| Skujins wins Stage 5 of Tour of California from brekaway Posted: 19 May 2016 04:07 PM PDT LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Toms Skujins pulled away from Adam De Vos and Xabier Zandio, the only remnants of an early breakaway, and cruised across the finish line to win Stage 5 of the Tour of California on Thursday. |
| Brazil's Temer promises to bring women to his cabinet Posted: 19 May 2016 04:04 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Acting President Michel Temer promised on Thursday that he will at some point have women in his currently all white-male Cabinet.
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| Second abducted Chibok girl rescued: Nigerian army Posted: 19 May 2016 04:01 PM PDT  A second Chibok schoolgirl abducted by Boko Haram more than two years ago has been found during military operations in northeast Nigeria, the army said on Thursday. Army spokesman Colonel Sani Usman said she was among 97 women and children rescued by troops and civilian vigilantes in the Damboa area of Borno state at about 11:00 am (1000 GMT) on Thursday. "We are glad to state that among those rescued is a girl believed to be one of the Chibok Government (Girls) Secondary School girls that were abducted on 14th April 2014 by the Boko Haram terrorists," he added.
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| US adds IS branches in Libya, Yemen, Saudi Arabia to its terror list Posted: 19 May 2016 03:56 PM PDT  The United States has added the Islamic State group's branches in Libya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia to its global terrorism blacklist and placed six men on its sanctions list. The three IS branches were declared "specially designated global terrorists," a category that imposes sanctions and penalties on foreign persons who pose a serious risk of committing acts of terrorism that threaten US nationals or national security, the State Department said. The State Department said the three groups emerged as IS branches in November 2014 when IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced he had accepted oaths of allegiance from fighters in Libya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
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| Kenny Perry takes Regions Tradition lead with opening 64 Posted: 19 May 2016 03:55 PM PDT BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Kenny Perry made a couple of early birdie putts from about 20 feet, mostly steered clear of trouble and finished well. |
| 1st Chibok girl to escape Boko Haram is feted in Nigeria Posted: 19 May 2016 03:47 PM PDT  LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Aid workers and parents of the girls who were kidnapped from a school in 2014 lashed out at the Nigerian government and military Thursday for their handling of the first of the so-called Chibok girls to escape the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
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| Air-sea search intensifies for missing EgyptAir plane Posted: 19 May 2016 03:44 PM PDT  A massive search was under way Thursday for the wreckage of an EgyptAir plane that plunged into the Mediterranean with 66 people on board, in what the Egyptian authorities said may have been an act of terrorism. Egypt's aviation minister said that while it was too soon to say why the Airbus A320 flying from Paris to Cairo had vanished from radar screens, a "terrorist" attack would be a more likely scenario than a technical failure. The tragedy raised fears of a repeat of the bombing of a Russian passenger jet by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group over Egypt last October that killed all 224 people on board.
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| U.S. man charged over Japanese woman's death ahead of Obama visit Posted: 19 May 2016 03:40 PM PDT  An American man working at a U.S. military base in Japan was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of dumping the body of a 20-year-old Japanese woman, police said, a case likely to stir anti-U.S. sentiment ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama. The 32-year-old civilian working at the base on the island of Okinawa admitted to abandoning the corpse but did not make any comments about whether he had killed the woman, an Okinawa police spokesman said. Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida summoned Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Japan, to lodge a protest.
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| Clinton declares Trump a 'threat' to US democracy Posted: 19 May 2016 03:40 PM PDT  Hillary Clinton on Thursday blasted her likely general election rival Donald Trump as a threat to US democracy and declared him unqualified to be president, unleashing some of her toughest criticism yet of the Republican presumptive nominee. "The threat that Donald Trump poses is so dramatic to our country, to our democracy and our economy," the former secretary of state told CNN in an interview. On May 3, Clinton declined to answer directly when asked by MSNBC whether Trump was qualified to be commander in chief, although Clinton said the New York billionaire "has given no indication he understands the gravity of the responsibilities" that go with the job.
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| Mediators push for 'national dialogue' to calm Venezuela crisis Posted: 19 May 2016 03:20 PM PDT  Foreign mediators trying to bring crisis-hit Venezuela back from the abyss announced Thursday a bid to get embattled President Nicolas Maduro's government and the opposition to sit down for talks. "It is a long, hard and difficult path," Zapatero admitted, urging support from the international community. The attempted mediation is taking place under a national state of emergency ordered by Maduro but rejected by the opposition-controlled congress.
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| Qatar World Cup head: Blatter US support should be Posted: 19 May 2016 03:14 PM PDT LONDON (AP) — Sepp Blatter's support for the American World Cup bid should face more scrutiny, the head of Qatar's 2022 organizing committee said on Thursday in his latest expression of frustration at the focus on the probity of their winning campaign. |
| German minister slams Fiat for not showing up at emissions meeting Posted: 19 May 2016 03:12 PM PDT  German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt has criticized Italian carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for not showing up for a meeting on Thursday to discuss emissions irregularities of its diesel vehicles. The company was expected to attend the meeting on Thursday to discuss the issue, but Fiat canceled the appointment by sending a lawyer's letter, Dobrindt said in a statement. "This uncooperative behavior of Fiat is completely incomprehensible," the minister said, adding there were concrete allegations about irregular emissions of Fiat cars.
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| Injured ballerina works her way back to the stage Posted: 19 May 2016 03:01 PM PDT  VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Ballerina Lucila Munaretto refused to accept what her doctors told her after a rollerblading accident left her with serious brain and spine injuries — that she might never dance again.
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| Argentine prosecutor: Nisman maybe 'induced' to kill himself Posted: 19 May 2016 02:55 PM PDT  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Alberto Nisman, who investigated Argentina's worst terrorist attack before he was found dead in his home last year, may have been forced to kill himself, another prosecutor who was formerly in charge of his case said Thursday.
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| EgyptAir says Mediterranean Sea debris not from Flight 804: CNN Posted: 19 May 2016 02:53 PM PDT (Reuters) - EgyptAir Vice Chairman Ahmed Adel said the debris found in the Mediterranean Sea was not from Flight 804, CNN reported on Thursday. Greek rescue workers found lifevests and bits of plastic floating in the Mediterranean after an EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar. "We stand corrected on finding the wreckage because what we identified is not a part of our plane. So the search and rescue is still going on," Adel told CNN. (Reporting by Richa Naidu; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) |
| Gap shutting 75 stores this year, 53 in Japan Posted: 19 May 2016 02:49 PM PDT  Retail group Gap Inc. said Thursday it would shutter 75 stores this year amid sagging sales, including 53 of its kids-focused Old Navy brand outlets in Japan. Announcing a fall in first quarter earnings, the San Francisco-based retailer also warned that its might not achieve previous earnings forecasts for this year given the headwinds buffeting the apparel industry. "Old Navy will strategically shift its focus to markets most favorable to the brand's growth," the company said, explaining the Japan closings.
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| Fed fears hit global stocks; travel shares fall Posted: 19 May 2016 02:47 PM PDT  New York (AFP) - World stock markets fell on Thursday as traders digested Federal Reserve signals that a possible US interest rate hike could be in the cards in June.
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| Top Asian News 9:42 p.m. GMT Posted: 19 May 2016 02:43 PM PDT BEIJING (AP) — When Taiwan inaugurates Tsai Ing-wen as the self-ruled island's first female president Friday, she'll confront major challenges including navigating increasingly fractious relations with Beijing and rejuvenating the flagging economy. Beijing has responded to the January election of Tsai and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party by intensifying pressure on Taiwan with military exercises, diplomatic moves and cross-border deportations and prosecutions. At home, Tsai faces an economy that has fallen into a recession as exports have dropped due to sluggish demand from China and elsewhere. "The challenges are enormous and I think that she does not underestimate them," said Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. |
| US could lift arms embargo on Vietnam amid China tensions Posted: 19 May 2016 02:42 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama could lift restrictions on arms sales when he makes his first visit to Vietnam next week. That would remove a final vestige of wartime animosity but would not please China, which views growing U.S. defense ties in its backyard with deep suspicion amid rising military tensions in the South China Sea.
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| Argentine lawmakers OK bill to stop layoffs; Macri to veto Posted: 19 May 2016 02:22 PM PDT  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The House of Deputies gave final congressional approval on Thursday to a bill that would ban layoffs in the public and private sectors. The president has said he would veto it because it might scare off badly needed investment.
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| U.S. blames Plains pipeline company for Santa Barbara oil spill Posted: 19 May 2016 02:21 PM PDT Numerous lapses in safety measures, judgment and planning by Plains All American Pipeline LP led to and worsened a major oil spill last year that fouled miles of shoreline and ocean near Santa Barbara, California, the U.S. Transportation Department said on Thursday. In their final report on the spill, federal investigators found Plains "failed on multiple levels to prevent, detect and respond to this incident," said Marie Therese Dominguez, head of the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The report came two days after Plains was indicted in California on 46 state criminal charges stemming from the oil spill, which environmental groups have seized on as demonstrating the hazards posed by an aging U.S. oil and gas transportation infrastructure. |
| Duke adds freshmen Bolden, White to freshman class Posted: 19 May 2016 02:21 PM PDT DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke has added two more players to one of the nation's top recruiting classes. |
