| Russia has motive, capability and form for U.S. email hack Posted: 29 Jul 2016 01:40 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin says it had zero involvement in the hacking of Democratic Party emails while U.S. officials say the hack originated in Russia. Seen through Kremlin eyes, Moscow would only be doing what it feels the United States has been doing to it for years anyway - interfering in a geopolitical rival's domestic politics in an attempt to destabilize and shape events. President Vladimir Putin said in February he had seen specific intelligence suggesting Russia's foreign enemies - code for Washington - were preparing to meddle in Russian parliamentary elections later this year.
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| CIA chief Brennan not optimistic about Syria's future as one country Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:54 PM PDT  ASPEN, Colo. (Reuters) - Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said on Friday he was not optimistic about the future of Syria. "I don't know whether or not Syria can be put back together again," Brennan told the annual Aspen Security Forum. His comments were a rare public acknowledgement by a top U.S. official that Syria may not survive a five-year civil war in its current state. (Reporting by Warren Strobel; Writing by Eric Walsh)
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| Turkey's Erdogan slams West for failure to show solidarity over coup attempt Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:10 PM PDT  By Tulay Karadeniz and Humeyra Pamuk ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan condemned Western countries on Friday for failing to show solidarity with Turkey over the recent failed coup, saying those who worried over the fate of coup supporters instead of Turkish democracy could not be friends of Ankara. Erdogan also rejected Western criticism of purges under way in Turkey's military and other state institutions which saw more than 60,000 people detained, removed or suspended over suspected links with the coup attempt, suggesting some in the United States were on the side of the plotters. "The attitude of many countries and their officials over the coup attempt in Turkey is shameful in the name of democracy," Erdogan told hundreds of supporters at the presidential palace in the Turkish capital.
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| Syrian maternity hospital supported by Save the Children bombed: charity Posted: 29 Jul 2016 08:00 AM PDT  A Syrian maternity hospital in a rebel-held area of Idlib province was extensively damaged on Friday after a direct hit, international charity Save the Children, which supports the hospital, said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors violence in Syria's five-year-old conflict, said air strikes hit the hospital and also a civil defense building. The number of casualties is not yet known, a spokesman for Save the Children said.
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| Libyan forces battle Islamic State snipers for streets of Sirte Posted: 29 Jul 2016 01:02 PM PDT  By Aidan Lewis SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) - Libyan forces made a fresh push on Friday to capture ground from Islamic State militants besieged in the center of their former North African stronghold of Sirte. The brigades advanced rapidly on Sirte after launching a counter-attack against Islamic State in early May, but their progress has slowed as they close in on the city center. Losing Sirte would be a major blow for Islamic State, which established total control over the coastal city last year and expanded its presence along about 250 km (150 miles) of sparsely populated land on either side.
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| Pope visits Auschwitz, says same horrors happening today Posted: 29 Jul 2016 12:36 PM PDT  By Philip Pullella OSWIECIM, Poland (Reuters) - Pope Francis made an emotional and silent visit to the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz on Friday and later said many of the horrors committed are happening in places at war today. Seated on a bench near the gate to the camp site in Poland, Pope Francis prayed in silence in tribute to the 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, killed there by Nazi occupiers during World War Two. The third pope to visit Auschwitz and the first not to have lived through the war in Europe, he entered the camp by foot, passing through iron gates under the infamous sign reading "Arbeit Macht Frei", German for "Work Sets You Free".
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| Streb shoots 63 and joins Walker in lead at PGA Posted: 29 Jul 2016 05:35 PM PDT  SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) — Robert Streb became the latest player to shoot 63 in a major, and hardly anyone noticed in a PGA Championship with endless action across Baltusrol on Friday.
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| Elbow better, Angelique Kerber reaches Montreal semifinals Posted: 29 Jul 2016 05:29 PM PDT  MONTREAL (AP) — Angelique Kerber put any concerns about her left elbow to rest Friday in the Rogers Cup.
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| Mickelson rallies to makes cut, McIlroy bogeys 18 to miss Posted: 29 Jul 2016 05:17 PM PDT  SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) — Phil Mickelson walked off the first green with a disgusted look on his face, as if he'd thrown away any shot at making the cut in the PGA Championship.
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| Nicaragua electoral authority unseats opposition lawmakers Posted: 29 Jul 2016 05:01 PM PDT  MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) — Nicaragua's top electoral authority decimated the country's political opposition on Friday by unseating practically all of its remaining lawmakers in congress as President Daniel Ortega prepares to seek a third term.
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| The Latest: Streb shoots 63 in PGA's second round Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:50 PM PDT  SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) — The Latest on the PGA Championship (all times local):
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| Ex-Guatemalan soccer chief pleads guilty in FIFA bribe case Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:43 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — A former Guatemalan soccer federation president has pleaded guilty in New York to charges related to a sprawling corruption investigation of world soccer. |
| Renault-Nissan Alliance to invest $800 million in Argentina Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:41 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The Renault-Nissan Alliance says it will invest $800 million in Argentina. |
| Brazil's acting president "ready" for jeers at Rio Olympics Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:37 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's acting President Michel Temer says he is ready to be jeered during the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games next week.
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| Brazil impeachment must be settled by Aug 26: Temer Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:28 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's political uncertainty must be resolved by the end of August -- its Olympic-hosting month -- by reaching a verdict in the impeachment trial of suspended President Dilma Rousseff, her interim replacement said Friday. Michel Temer, the vice president who has been acting head of state since May, said he expected Rousseff would be definitively booted from office. "The world needs to know who is the president" of Brazil, Temer said.
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| One cop killed, one wounded in San Diego shooting Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:23 PM PDT  A police officer died and another was wounded in a shooting at a traffic stop in San Diego, police said Friday. A Hispanic man was later taken into custody, San Diego police chief Shelley Zimmerman told a news conference. "We are still actively investigating the crime scene, including searching for any possible remaining suspects," Zimmerman said.
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| Bayer says will halt future U.S. sales of insecticide Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:15 PM PDT  By Tom Polansek CHICAGO (Reuters) - The agricultural unit of German chemicals company Bayer AG will halt future U.S. sales of an insecticide that can be used on more than 200 crops after losing a fight with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the company said on Friday. Bayer lost an attempt to continue sales of flubendiamide, marketed in the United States as Belt, after the EPA earlier found that it posed risks to the environment. Dana Sargent, Bayer's vice president of regulatory affairs, said the product was safe.
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| Walker fires 66 to lead PGA by two as Day charges Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:12 PM PDT  Top-ranked defending champion Jason Day made seven birdies in eight holes to charge within two shots of the lead at the PGA Championship as pace-setter Jimmy Walker clung to a one-shot edge. Walker birdied three holes in a row starting at the par-3 12th but a bogey at the par-5 18th left him with a four-under par 66 second round to stand on nine-under 131 after 36 holes. Unheralded American Robert Streb had seven birdies and a lone bogey to stand on eight-under with two holes remaining with Day next at seven-under alongside Emiliano Grillo of Argentina in the clubhouse.
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| Clinton, Trump take gloves off in White House slog Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:10 PM PDT  Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump traded insults at opposite ends of the country Friday, taking their fight for the White House to rival battleground states and portraying starkly different visions of America. Clinton followed her historic acceptance speech on Thursday as the first woman presidential nominee for a major party with a rally in Philadelphia before embarking on a bus tour of Rust Belt states Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Colorado, a key state out west, her Republican opponent promised "no more Mr Nice Guy," trashing Clinton's speech as "average," calling her a liar and promising to end the migration of Syrian refugees.
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| Brazil's Lula faces trial for obstruction of justice Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:08 PM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - Ex-Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who was key in getting the Olympics to Rio, will be put on trial for allegedly trying to obstruct a corruption probe at Petrobras oil company, officials said Friday. Lula, 70, was formally charged along with six others, including former senator Delcidio do Amaral, a once-important ally in Lula's leftist Workers' Party who is accused of Petrobras-related corruption and has become a state's witness. Lula, as he is universally known in Brazil, was president from 2003-2010 and left office with massive popularity thanks to social programs that lifted tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty.
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| Brazil's Lula to stand trial for obstruction of justice: court Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:07 PM PDT  Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the former chief executive of investment bank Grupo BTG Pactual SA will stand trial for obstruction of justice, documents from a federal court in Brasilia showed on Friday. Lula was previously under investigation in various jurisdictions in a sprawling corruption probe focused on state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) but is now officially a defendant. The case dates to last November, when former Senator Delcidio do Amaral and Andre Esteves, the founder and former CEO of BTG Pactual, were arrested for allegedly trying to stop a jailed former Petrobras executive from collaborating with Brazil's largest-ever corruption investigation.
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| Phillips helps Australia beat France 76-67 Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:06 PM PDT  BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) — Erin Phillips scored 20 points and Liz Cambage added 19 points and 10 rebounds to help Australia beat France 76-67 on Friday night.
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| Stephan Jaeger follows record 58 with 65 on Web.com Tour Posted: 29 Jul 2016 04:00 PM PDT HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) — Stephan Jaeger backed up his record 12-under 58 with a 65 on Friday, giving him a five-stroke lead halfway through the second round of the Web.com Tour's Ellie Mae Classic. |
| Woman in UN bribery scandal gets 20 months in prison Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:56 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — A tearful U.S. citizen who bribed a top United Nations official to get support for business ventures was sentenced to 20 months in prison Friday by a judge who said bribery schemes do "substantial damage" to the U.N.'s image. |
| Erdogan tells West 'mind your own business' as journalists jailed Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:41 PM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday told the EU and US to "mind your own business" after the West expressed alarm over the growing crackdown against suspected coup plotters, as a court placed 17 journalists under arrest. Turkey has detained more than 18,000 people over the coup which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, with the relentless crackdown sparking warnings from Brussels that its EU membership bid may be in danger. Mind your own business! Look at your own deeds," Erdogan said in a speech at his presidential palace.
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| Orioles sign former Reds RHP Logan Ondrusek, back from Japan Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:40 PM PDT TORONTO (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles have signed former Reds right-hander Logan Ondrusek, who has returned from playing in Japan and gives the AL East leaders another option in their bullpen. |
| Uruguay formally ends its presidency of Mercosur trade bloc Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:35 PM PDT MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay has ended its term as president of the Mercosur trade bloc, the foreign ministry said on Friday. |
| Some 40,000 join pro-govt rally as DR Congo poll row mounts Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:32 PM PDT  Tens of thousands of people rallied in Kinshasa on Friday in support of Congolese President Joseph Kabila just two days after his leading opponent returned home to a massive welcome. Political tension is high in the country as the opposition fears that Kabila, whose mandate ends in December, will delay elections in a bid to cling on to power. "We came here to affirm our support for Joseph Kabila," Aubin Minaku, secretary general of the ruling majority and president of the national assembly, told a crowd estimated at over 40,000, an AFP correspondent at the scene reported.
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| First charges filed over France church attack Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:28 PM PDT  French authorities have filed the first charges tied to the jihadist killing of a priest in his church, as the government announced on Friday it would consider a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques. Three days before the Tuesday attack authorities found a video showing one of the assailants, Abdel Malik Petitjean, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and speaking of "a violent action". The charges came as Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he would weigh a temporary ban on foreign financing of mosques, urging a "new model" for relations with Islam after a spate of jihadist attacks.
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| Rabbi was behind meeting between pope, Polish rescuers Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:22 PM PDT  WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Pope Francis' visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau on Friday included an encounter with 25 Christian Poles who rescued Jews during the Holocaust — a powerfully symbolic meeting that Poland's chief rabbi played a key role in orchestrating.
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| Turkey remands 17 journalists in custody over links to Gulen Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:21 PM PDT  Istanbul (AFP) - An Istanbul court on Friday remanded 17 Turkish journalists in custody over links to the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who is blamed for this month's failed coup, charging them with membership of a "terror group".
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| Japan's Kei Nishikori advances to Toronto semifinals Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:15 PM PDT  TORONTO (AP) — Japan's Kei Nishikori beat Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the Rogers Cup semifinals.
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| UN decides to send police force to Burundi Posted: 29 Jul 2016 03:10 PM PDT  The UN Security Council on Friday agreed to deploy a UN police force to Burundi, its strongest move to date to try to end more than a year of violence in the African country. The council adopted a resolution drafted by France on dispatching up to 228 UN police to the capital Bujumbura and throughout Burundi for an initial period of a year. Burundi has said it would not accept more than 50 UN police, drawing a question mark over whether the proposed force will have the strength in numbers to make a difference on the ground.
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| Australia evacuates Rio Olympic lodging after small fire Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:58 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Australian Olympic team members were forced to evacuate their lodgings on Friday at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after a small fire in a basement parking area caused smoke to fill the stairwells.
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| Human rights commission to continue monitoring Mexico case Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has adopted a plan to continue monitoring the investigation into the 2014 disappearance of 43 students in Mexico. |
| The Latest: US long jumper Hartfield added to Olympic team Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:47 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Latest on the Rio Games (all times local to Rio de Janeiro):
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| South Korea's Hye-jin Choi wins Canadian Women's Amateur Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:45 PM PDT NEW MINAS, Nova Scotia (AP) — South Korea's Hye-jin Choi won the Canadian Women's Amateur on Friday, closing with a 4-under 66 for a four-stroke victory. |
| Spieth at least has a chance in the final major, the PGA Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:43 PM PDT  SPRINGFIELD, N.J. (AP) — Jordan Spieth warmed up on the range, rode the side streets in a van to get to the 10th tee and was ready to go Friday in the PGA Championship when he had to stand around for nearly an hour because of a rain delay.
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| Crews battle to quell California wildfire near Big Sur coast Posted: 29 Jul 2016 02:40 PM PDT  By Michael Fiala CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (Reuters) - Firefighters battled for an eighth day on Friday to quell a deadly blaze near California's renowned Big Sur coast that has destroyed dozens of homes, threatened hundreds more and forced several state parks to close at the height of summer tourist season. The so-called Soberanes Fire ignited last Friday just south of the upscale oceanside town of Carmel-by-the-Sea and has roared through nearly 32,000 acres (13,000 hectares) of drought-parched chaparral, grass and timber into the Los Padres National Forest. Mountainous terrain combined with extremely hot, dry weather conditions have hampered efforts by nearly 4,300 firefighters to hack buffer lines through dense vegetation around the perimeter of the blaze, officials said.
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