| North Korea fires ballistic missile into sea: South Korea Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:24 PM PDT  North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday from its western region into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of launches in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Wednesday's launch was from a region in South Hwanghae province to the southwest of the capital, Pyongyang, the South Korea's Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. On July 19, North Korea fired three ballistic missiles that flew between 500 km and 600 km (300-360 miles) into the sea off its east coast.
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| Obama, Singapore leader push Pacific trade deal in state visit Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:03 PM PDT  By Timothy Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Singapore's prime minister on Tuesday made sales pitches for a Pacific Rim trade deal that both U.S. presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have derided and that has been stalled in Congress. Aiming to keep alive hopes for a post-election congressional vote in the closing weeks of 2016 in favor of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Obama said its merits would overcome fierce criticism on the campaign trail. It won't just be a political symbol or a political football," Obama told a White House news conference with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a state visit.
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| Colombia destroys 104 cocaine labs in five days Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:17 PM PDT  Colombian law enforcement has destroyed 104 cocaine laboratories capable of producing some 100 tonnes of the drug annually, the head of the anti-narcotics police said on Tuesday. The operation, conducted over five days in the country's southeastern jungle region, is part of new government strategy focused on combating drug production as well as the cultivation of coca, the base ingredient of cocaine. "This is a structural blow to the finances of drug trafficking," anti-narcotics police director General Jose Angel Mendoza told Reuters in the jungles of Guaviare province.
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| Brazil impeachment trial closer to sealing Rousseff's fate Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:16 PM PDT  By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Senate report found on Tuesday that Brazil's suspended President Dilma Rousseff violated the constitution by manipulating government accounts, moving her drawn-out impeachment trial closer to deciding her fate. The report is expected to be approved by the impeachment committee on Friday and by the full Senate next Tuesday, leading to the final trial phase in which the 81 Senators must reach a verdict at the end of August or first days of September. The impeachment of the unpopular leftist leader has paralyzed Brazilian politics for seven months and held interim President Michel Temer in a legal limbo that has hindered his efforts to pull Brazil from fiscal crisis and severe recession.
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| Bangladesh's missing militant link: the threat from abroad Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:04 PM PDT  By Serajul Quadir and Tom Lasseter DHAKA/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - When Bangladeshi authorities last month released the names of 261 men who have gone missing from their families, in an attempt to find militants hidden in this country of 160 million people, at the very end of the list was "Jilani alias Abu Zidal". The young man, an engineering school dropout, traveled to Syria last year to fight for Islamic State. Asked why Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion, a domestic anti-terrorism agency, listed Jilani among the 261 names, its spokesman Mufti Mohammad Khan said neither the man's family nor the police had notified the battalion of the death.
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| UK lawmakers say Europe's efforts over migration crisis 'lamentable' Posted: 02 Aug 2016 04:06 PM PDT  European Union attempts to tackle the migration crisis have been a failure, amounting to "too little, too late" with not enough being done to tackle people-smugglers, a committee of British lawmakers said on Wednesday. "Europe's efforts to address this colossal refugee crisis have been lamentable," said Keith Vaz, chairman of the British parliament's Home Affairs Committee. "The atrocious conditions in migrant camps within and on the borders of the richest countries on earth is a source of shame." A flood of refugees from the Middle East and Asia, many escaping conflict in Syria and Iraq, has grown into Europe's worst migration crisis since World War Two.
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| Top Asian News 12:26 a.m. GMT Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:26 PM PDT SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has fired another ballistic missile into the sea, South Korea's military said Wednesday. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the missile was launched toward the waters off the North's east coast. North Korea routinely conducts missile and other weapons tests, but Wednesday's launch came after North Korea made angry threats against a U.S. plan to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea by the end of next year. Earlier this month, North Korea fired three ballistic missiles into the sea. |
| Seoul says NKorea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:25 PM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has fired another ballistic missile into the sea, South Korea's military said Wednesday.
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| N. Korea test fires ballistic missile: S. Korea defence ministry Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:16 PM PDT  Seoul (AFP) - North Korea on Wednesday test-fired a ballistic missile towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea's defence ministry said.
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| 8 people believed to be migrants found drowned in Nicaragua Posted: 02 Aug 2016 05:08 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police in southern Nicaragua said Tuesday they have found the bodies of eight people believed to be migrants who drowned. |
| Peru probes alleged executions by police Posted: 02 Aug 2016 04:55 PM PDT  Peruvian authorities are investigating 90 police officers for alleged extrajudicial executions of suspects in the crime-plagued country, a state watchdog said Tuesday. State ombudsman Eduardo Vega called on the government to reveal details of investigations into 27 alleged killings by the national police between 2012 and 2015. "We have been informed that more than 90 police officers are being investigated by the public prosecution service," Vega said in a letter published online.
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| California blaze near Big Sur traced to unattended campfire Posted: 02 Aug 2016 04:52 PM PDT  (Reuters) - A blaze that has scorched some 43,000 acres (17,400 hectares) and destroyed dozens of homes near California's famed Big Sur coast was sparked by an illegal, unattended camp fire in a state park, authorities said on Tuesday. The so-called Soberanes Fire, which erupted on July 22, began as a small blaze, 2 feet (60 cm) in diameter, ignited by unknown individuals in a section of Garrapata State Park that was closed to camping and campfires, according to U.S. Forest Service spokesman Don Jaques. The more than 5,450 fire personnel battling the blaze have been able to draw containment lines - a measure of how much of its perimeter has been cleared by fire crews of unburned vegetation - around only 18 percent of the wildfire so far.
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| Blood Mica: Key findings of investigation into child deaths in India's illegal mica mines Posted: 02 Aug 2016 04:47 PM PDT KODERMA/BHILWARA/SYDAPURAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the depths of India's illegal mica mines, where children as young as five work alongside adults, lurks a dark, hidden secret - the cover-up of child deaths with seven killed in the past two months, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation revealed. * Dhanraj Sharma, a commissioner in Rajasthan's Labour Ministry, said he was not aware of child workers in the mines: "They may be playing there, they may be doing some small things for the parents. |
| The Latest: Ban Ki-moon to carry Olympic torch Posted: 02 Aug 2016 04:09 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Latest from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):
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| Pope sets up Vatican panel to study female deacons issue Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:56 PM PDT  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has set up a panel to study whether women could serve as deacons, a role now reserved to men.
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| Syrian government and rebels trade gas attack accusations Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:54 PM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian rebels accused government forces of launching toxic gas attacks on civilians in a town southwest of Aleppo on Tuesday. The government rejected the claim and accused the rebels of using chemical weapons themselves.
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| Report: Hayne back to National Rugby League with Gold Coast Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:50 PM PDT GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — Former San Francisco 49ers running back Jarryd Hayne is reported to be returning to the National Rugby League, signing a two-year contract with the Gold Coast Titans. |
| Daughter of murdered journalist gunned down in Guatemala Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:48 PM PDT  The daughter of a Guatemalan journalist murdered in June was herself fatally shot on Tuesday in her hometown of Coatepeque, police said. Lindaura Aceituno, 36, died after being taken to hospital with several bullet wounds. On June 25, Aceituno's father, Alvaro Aceituno Lopez, 65, was shot dead in the same town by attackers in a car.
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| Automakers, regulators spar over U.S. emissions rules Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:47 PM PDT  By David Shepardson and Joseph White TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (Reuters) - The complex U.S. emissions rules driving the auto industry's technology investment should be overhauled, auto executives and environmental regulators agreed Tuesday at a conference here, even as they differed sharply over how. Chris Grundler, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, said regulators "should be open to a new policy framework post 2025" to drive down greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks.
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| State dinner celebrates 50 years of US-Singapore relations Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:37 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's 12th state dinner is being held Tuesday night for the prime minister of Singapore, a city-state Obama refers to as an anchor for the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia.
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| Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian chemist Zewail dies Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:36 PM PDT  Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian-American chemist Ahmed Zewail, a science and technology advisor to President Barack Obama and the first U.S. science envoy to the Middle East, died on Tuesday in the United States, his spokesman told Egyptian state TV. Zewail, who was 70 and a member of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) faculty, was the sole recipient of the Nobel chemistry prize in 1999 for his pioneering work in femtochemistry, the study of chemical reactions in ultra-short time scales. A Caltech spokeswoman confirmed Zewail's death but had no information about the circumstances.
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| U.S. says looking into reports of toxic gas dropped on Syrian town Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:34 PM PDT The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it was looking into reports that toxic gas was dropped on a Syrian town close to where a Russian military helicopter went down and, if the accounts were true, it would be "extremely serious." "If true, it would be extremely serious," State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. |
| Russia rejects US criticism of Aleppo strikes Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:25 PM PDT  Moscow on Tuesday blasted criticism by Washington over its actions in Syria, saying it was "unacceptable" to demand restraint around Aleppo, the city divided between Syrian government troops and rebels. "As soon as there is real headway in fighting terrorists, made by the Syrian government and army with our support, the Americans started... demanding that we stop fighting terrorists," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA-Novosti agency. Britain-based monitors reported that Russia launched heavy air strikes in the Aleppo outskirts, slowing a last-ditch effort by rebels to break the siege.
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| Obama says supporting Libya's fight with Islamic State is in U.S. interest Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:15 PM PDT  President Barack Obama said on Tuesday it is in the U.S. national security interest to support Libya's emerging government's fight against Islamic State, a day after his administration said it launched air strikes there. The move marks the opening of a new front by the U.S. administration in the war against Islamic State, which, under added pressure in its Syria and Iraq strongholds, is increasingly resorting to planning attacks abroad. Obama said the air strikes were undertaken to make sure that Libyan forces were able to finish the job of fighting the radical militant group and to increase stability there.
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| 4 remain missing after boat overturns in Dominican Republic Posted: 02 Aug 2016 03:07 PM PDT SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic are searching for four people missing since a tourist boat overturned along the country's northeast coast. |
| Georgia man pleads guilty in $30M computer hacking scheme Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:57 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — A Georgia man pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge Tuesday, admitting participating in a computer hacking scheme that used facts stolen from over 150,000 press releases to generate $30 million in illegal profits. |
| Egyptian chemist Zewail, Noble prize-winner, dies at 70 Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:51 PM PDT CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state media is reporting that Noble prize-winning chemist Ahmed Zewail, who was a dual U.S.-Egyptian citizen, has passed away at the age of 70. |
| EPA approves sales of 2017 BMW diesel vehicles Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:26 PM PDT  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it has approved the sale of new 2017 model year BMW AG diesel vehicles in the United States after a thorough review. Chris Grundler, head of the EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, told reporters on the sidelines of an automotive conference the agency granted certification to BMW on Friday. BMW had said last month that U.S. product certification of all 2017 BMW diesel models has been delayed due to testing logistics.
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| West Indies on 48-4 at stumps against India, rain stops play Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:22 PM PDT  KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — West Indies look to be heading for another heavy defeat to India after reaching 48-4 before heavy rain brought the fourth day's play to an early end in the second test Tuesday.
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| Canada to let Supreme Court candidates nominate themselves Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:17 PM PDT  By Ethan Lou TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada will change the way it fills vacancies on its top court, letting qualified lawyers and judges nominate themselves for Supreme Court openings and using a nonpartisan advisory board to recommend candidates, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Tuesday. There is a looming vacancy on the nine-member Supreme Court, with Justice Thomas Cromwell announcing he will retire in September, giving Trudeau his first chance to appoint a member of the court since becoming prime minister last November. Under the current system, Supreme Court justices in Canada are effectively picked directly by the prime minister, who does not require parliamentary approval.
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| White House directs federal agencies to consider climate change Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:17 PM PDT By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. federal agencies should disclose whether their actions and decisions will have an impact on climate change, the White House announced on Tuesday. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) finalized an update after nearly six years of consultations of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a Nixon-era statute that called on officials to weigh the environmental effects of projects such as highways, dams or oil drilling. The update takes NEPA a step further by requiring agencies such as the Interior Department to the Army Corps of Engineers to quantify greenhouse gas emissions in NEPA project reviews and to describe the potential climate change impacts. |
| Obama says Trump 'unfit' to be president Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:15 PM PDT  In a searing and virtually unprecedented presidential rebuke, Barack Obama declared embattled Republican White House nominee Donald Trump "unfit" to be president Tuesday and called on party leaders to disown him. "He keeps proving it," said Obama, standing alongside the prime minister of Singapore and casting aside any pretense of domestic unity. In recent days, Trump has criticized Muslims, babies, firefighters and the military, prompting his wincing Republican backers to issue awkward denunciations.
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| French police patrol UK ferries after attacks Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:11 PM PDT  France has introduced sea patrols for passenger ferries to and from Britain, after a string of jihadist attacks in recent months that have shaken the country, a marine police spokesman said Tuesday. "A permanent unit has been deployed for passenger ferries since August 1," Lieutenant Pierre-Joachim Antona told AFP. Marine police deployed all along the French coastline -- from the North Sea to the Mediterranean -- have been tasked with contributing to efforts that began last year to secure the country's waters, in cooperation with land forces, the spokesman said.
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| Libyan forces advance in IS bastion as US keeps up air strikes Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:04 PM PDT  Libyan forces said Tuesday they were advancing inside the jihadist bastion of Sirte, as Washington conducted a second straight day of air strikes on Islamic State group positions in the city. US President Barack Obama defended the two-day-old air campaign, saying defeating the jihadists there was in America's national interest. The IS bastion, located just across the Mediterranean from Europe, has been shaken by weeks of fierce clashes between jihadists and fighters allied to Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).
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| Correction: Russia-Media-US story Posted: 02 Aug 2016 02:00 PM PDT  MOSCOW (AP) — In a story July 27 about the portrayal of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Russian media, The Associated Press reported erroneously that RT TV is part of the Rossiya Segodnya state media complex. RT TV is a stand-alone organization funded by the state.
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