| Thousands return to Manbij after IS militants flee city Posted: 13 Aug 2016 11:38 AM PDT  By Suleiman Al-Khalidi BEIRUT (Reuters) - Thousands of displaced residents streamed back into the northern Syrian town of Manbij on Saturday after U.S.-backed fighters ousted the last Islamic State militants from their former stronghold, residents and U.S. allies said. The U.S.-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on Friday they had seized full control of the city near the Turkish border after the departure of the last of the militants, who had been using civilians as human shields. Hundreds of cars and vehicles carrying families and their belongings flocked into the city from makeshift camps and villages in the countryside, where many of the city's residents took shelter during the two-month campaign, according to an SDF official and relatives who were in contact with residents.
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| Turkey says no compromise with Washington on cleric's extradition Posted: 13 Aug 2016 12:06 PM PDT  By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will not compromise with Washington over the extradition of the Islamic cleric it accuses of orchestrating a failed coup, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday, warning of rising anti-Americanism if the United States fails to extradite. Yildirim's comments, at a briefing for local reporters, were the latest to take aim at Turkey's top NATO ally and coincided with a report that an Istanbul prosecutor wrote to U.S. authorities asking f/4or the detention of cleric Fethullah Gulen. Turkey says Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in rural Pennsylvania since 1999, masterminded the failed July 15 putsch when a group of rogue soldiers commandeered tanks, warplanes and helicopters in an attempt to overthrow the government.
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| On 90th birthday, Fidel Castro thanks well-wishers, appears at gala Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:38 PM PDT  By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance on Saturday at his 90th birthday gala, after the leader of the 1959 revolution thanked fellow Cubans for their well wishes and lambasted his old foe the United States in a column carried by state-run media. Cuba went into overdrive this month honoring the retired "El Comandante," who built a Communist-run state on the doorstep of the United States, surviving what it says were hundreds of assassination attempts along the way. Seated in the front row of the Karl Marx theater, he was flanked by Raul and regional ally Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
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| Six injured in attack on Swiss train; motive unknown, police say Posted: 13 Aug 2016 12:01 PM PDT  By Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi ZURICH (Reuters) - Six people were injured in an attack aboard a Swiss train on Saturday by a man armed with a knife and flammable fluid, St Gallen cantonal police said. Three adults, two teenagers and a child aged six were hurt, according to a police statement. The assailant, a Swiss citizen, was also injured.
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| U.S. drone kills Islamic State leader for Afghanistan, Pakistan: officials Posted: 13 Aug 2016 10:38 AM PDT By Jibran Ahmad and Yeganeh Torbati PESHAWAR, Pakistan/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The leader of Islamic State's branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan was killed in a U.S. drone strike on July 26, a Pentagon spokesman said on Friday after the Afghan ambassador to Pakistan announced the news to Reuters. The death of Hafiz Saeed Khan is a blow to efforts by Islamic State - also known as ISIS or Daesh - to expand from its heartlands in Syria and Iraq into Afghanistan and Pakistan, already crowded with jihadist movements including the Taliban and al Qaeda. |
| Venezuelans cross reopened border to Colombia for food, medicine Posted: 13 Aug 2016 12:05 PM PDT  By Anggy Polanco SAN ANTONIO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Thousands of Venezuelans were welcomed to Colombia by a military band early on Saturday morning as the two countries' borders were officially reopened after being closed by Venezuela a year ago. Some people had traveled across Venezuela to queue overnight hoping to cross to buy food and other basics that are in short supply in Venezuela, which is steeped in an economic crisis. "I came with my family to do some shopping because we can't find anything to eat," said Wilmary Salcedo, a 17-year-old engineering student who had traveled some 500 miles (800 km) from the central city of Maracay hoping for rice, sugar and cooking oil.
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| Super-heavyweight Joe Joyce makes art of brutal Rio KO Posted: 13 Aug 2016 05:35 PM PDT  Britain's super-heavyweight boxer Joe Joyce has a fine arts degree but he displayed his brutal side with an emphatic first-round knock-out victory in his debut at the Rio Olympics. In front of the watching Floyd Mayweather on Saturday, the softly spoken Joyce had Davilson Dos Santos of Cape Verde in trouble almost from the first bell, the referee stepping in for a count. Asked by AFP about the apparent clash between fine art and boxing, Joyce said: "They are two of my skills.
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| 'Unprecedented' flooding slams U.S. Gulf Coast; at least three dead Posted: 13 Aug 2016 05:22 PM PDT  By Bryn Stole BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - Torrential rainfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast has caused "unprecedented" flooding in parts of Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards said on Saturday, while claiming at least three lives. The National Weather Service issued flood watches for parts of southeastern Texas through Sunday evening and extended its flash flood warning further west in Louisiana until Sunday morning, according to NWS meteorologist Andrew Tingler. Forecasters also maintained a flash flood watch and flood warnings for eastern regions of Louisiana, including the state capital of Baton Rouge, Tingler said.
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| Unfazed by critics, Gigi Fernandez lauds Puig's tennis gold Posted: 13 Aug 2016 05:20 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Monica Puig isn't the first Puerto Rican women's tennis player to win a gold medal at the Olympics. She's just the first to win one for Puerto Rico.
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| US men's volleyball team beats France, stays in medal chase Posted: 13 Aug 2016 05:04 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Way behind in the first set Saturday against France, the Americans slowly began chipping away to end up on top. While none of the U.S. players can quite explain it, they have a propensity for doing that very thing, coming back with the odds stacked against them.
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| Gasol, Spain throttle Lithuania 109-59 in men's basketball Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:57 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With little room for error, the Spanish men's basketball team absolutely throttled Lithuania 109-59 Saturday to keep its medal hopes alive. Spain, which won silver at the last two Olympics, lost two of its first three games and desperately needed a win — and it still might need help from other teams to advance to the quarterfinals.
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| Olympics: Iranian weightlifter Moradi wins men's 94kg Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:56 PM PDT  Iranian Sohrab Moradi topped the podium in the men's 94kg category on Saturday to claim Iran's second weightlifting gold medal of the Rio Games. Moradi, who previously served a two-year ban after testing positive for methadone, dominated the event with a combined total of 403kg. Vadzim Straltsou of Belarus claimed silver on 395 while Lithuania's Aurimas Didzbalis took bronze with 392.
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| What to watch at the Rio Games on Sunday Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:55 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Day 9 of the Rio Games features medal action in track and field, gymnastics, tennis, golf, fencing and more. Here are some things to watch (all times local):
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| Off-field chaos costing Africans World Cup - Nigeria boss Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:48 PM PDT  Nigeria's Olympic football coach Samson Siasia believes an African country could win the World Cup if it weren't for the pitiful state of sports administration blighting their chances. Siasia led Nigeria to the semi-finals of the Olympics on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Denmark despite a chaotic build-up to the tournament in Brazil and rows over player's allowances. Nigeria arrived in Brazil just hours before their opening 5-4 win over Japan last week after being stranded for several days at their training base in Atlanta because the Federation hadn't booked flight tickets in advance.
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| Syrian girl shot by sniper evacuated to hospital: monitor Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:37 PM PDT  A ten-year-old Syrian girl shot in the besieged town of Madaya was evacuated Sunday to a Damascus hospital where she is in a stable condition, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Ghina Quwayder's leg was shattered when she was shot by a government sniper at a checkpoint in the southwestern town earlier this month while buying medicine for her mother, according to Amnesty International. The human rights group had launched a campaign urging the UN humanitarian task force in Syria, which is headed by US and Russian authorities, to evacuate her.
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| Cuba's Fidel Castro makes public appearance for 90th birthday Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:30 PM PDT  Cuba's Fidel Castro made a rare public appearance for his 90th birthday Saturday, alongside his brother and successor, Raul, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a live broadcast on local television showed. The Cuban revolutionary leader, who had not been seen publicly since April, wore a white track jacket and sat next to the two presidents at a gala organized by a children's theater company in Havana's Karl Marx Theater, the island nation's largest. "That's why you have to stress the need to preserve peace and that no power has the right to kill millions of people," Fidel Castro said.
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| Benfica makes winning start to Portuguese title defense Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:29 PM PDT LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Benfica made a winning start to defense of the Portuguese league title by beating Tondela 2-0 on Saturday. |
| After volley to face, from a sure tennis medal to none Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:22 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka were both still awake at 5 a.m., a mere nine hours before they would play for the Olympic bronze medal.
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| Farewell day for Michael Phelps at Rio; Bolt heating up Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:20 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — This is goodbye for Michael Phelps. The most decorated athlete in Olympic history has one more race before retirement.
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| Venus guaranteed a record-tying 5th Olympic tennis medal Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:19 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Venus Williams isn't used to taking the court in doubles uncertain whether she can win.
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| Paralympics chief demands Rio pays overdue cash to nations Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:19 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Crucial payments to fund the travel of Paralympic teams to Brazil have not been transferred, threatening the participation of some nations, the chief executive of the Paralympic movement said on Saturday.
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| Miguel Angel Jimenez takes US Senior Open lead Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:17 PM PDT UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (AP) — Miguel Angel Jimenez was back on top on a Saturday, this time in the U.S. Senior Open at difficult Scioto County Club. The 52-year-old Spanish player was looking for a better late Sunday afternoon result after missing chances in his last two events. |
| Japan beats France 79-71 to wrap up women's hoops group play Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:07 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Asami Yoshida scored 24 points to lead Japan to a 79-71 win over France 79-71 Saturday to wrap up its group play in women's basketball.
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| Muhammad, US teammates win bronze in sabre fencing Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:04 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Ibtihaj Muhammad came to the Olympics determined to show the world that Muslim-American women can excel in sports.
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| In tennis, Puig wins Puerto Rico's 1st Olympic gold ever Posted: 13 Aug 2016 04:02 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — To a soundtrack of "Si se puede!" from the stands, Monica Puig won Puerto Rico's first gold medal in any sport in Olympic history, upsetting Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 in the women's tennis singles final Saturday at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
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| Va. plane crash dead were from Indiana, Kentucky, Germany Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:55 PM PDT WASHINGTON (AP) — An Indiana woman, two of her four children and a foreign exchange student were among the six people killed in a small plane crash in Virginia, a family member said Saturday. |
| Britain wins another gold, silver in Olympic track cycling Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:47 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Joanna Rowsell-Shand was still cherishing her latest Olympic gold medal when teammate Becky James rallied on the final lap of the women's keirin to win a silver of her own.
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| Lineker presents soccer show in shorts only after bet Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:44 PM PDT LONDON (AP) — Former England striker Gary Lineker presented the start of Britain's best-known soccer show wearing only a pair of white shorts, after a bet he made last season about Leicester City's chances of winning the Premier League. |
| On 90th birthday, Fidel Castro thanks Cuba, criticizes Obama Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:43 PM PDT  HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television Saturday evening.
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| Swiss knifeman sets fire on train, injures 6 Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:40 PM PDT  A knifeman started a fire on a train in eastern Switzerland before stabbing passengers on Saturday, injuring six people including a six-year-old child, police said. The motive of the attack was not immediately clear, but the incident follows a string of violent, often deadly assaults in Europe in recent months, with many claimed by the jihadist Islamic State group. "We can neither exclude nor affirm that this was a terrorist act," Saint Gallen regional police spokesman Bruno Metzger told the local St. Galler Tagblatt daily.
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| No matter the water's color, Chinese divers look golden Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:39 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — China is poised to return to the top of the medal podium in diving.
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| Rio 'better than US Open' as Del Potro eyes gold against Murray Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:38 PM PDT  Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro will tackle defending champion Andy Murray for Olympic gold Sunday, insisting that his magical Rio run tops his lone Grand Slam triumph at the 2009 US Open. It's very big, maybe even more special than when I won the US Open," said del Potro, who was mobbed by Argentine fans at the end of the semi-final.
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| So much for the dire predictions of US swimming flop in Rio Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:32 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — They teamed up for a carpool karaoke video. They planted their flag in Brazil. And when the Olympics are done, they'll be remembered as the latest in a long line of U.S. swimming powerhouses.
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| Britain smash world record in Rio to win women's team pursuit Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:28 PM PDT  Britain smashed their own world record to win Olympic gold in the women's team pursuit in Rio on Saturday. It was the third time in the space of 48 hours that the quartet of Katie Archibald, Laura Trott, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand had set a new world mark in the 4km race.
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| IS frees hundreds of 'human shields' in Syria Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:27 PM PDT  Islamic State group jihadists have released hundreds of civilians they used as human shields while fleeing a crumbling stronghold in northern Syria, but the fate of others remained unknown Saturday. On another front, scores of civilians were killed on Saturday in air raids by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally, and in shelling attacks by the rebels in the battleground province of Aleppo, a monitoring group said. At least 51 civilians including four children were killed in Aleppo city and the surrounding countryside, while another 22 civilians were killed in the neighbouring province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
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| 3 swimmers head to Olympic Stadium instead of the pool Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:26 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — British swimmer Fran Halsall landed a trip to the Olympic Stadium.
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| Sole Russian track athlete banned from Rio, quickly appeals Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:22 PM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The IAAF said Saturday it has banned the only Russian in Olympic track and field from competition and that she is appealing the ruling.
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| Brexit could be delayed as government departments not ready: Sunday Times Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:15 PM PDT  Britain could leave the European Union toward the end of 2019, instead of early that year as expected by some politicians, reported the Sunday Times citing sources who have been briefed by ministers that Brexit departments were not ready. The UK voted to leave the EU on June 23, but Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will not invoke "Article 50", the two-year formal process for divorcing the bloc, this year as the country needs time to prepare for negotiations. Britain's international trade minister, Liam Fox, said in July that early next year could be the best time for Britain to trigger the divorce talks.
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| Mexico frees official jailed in drug lord 'El Chapo's escape Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:13 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican court has ordered the release of a prison official jailed on charges of abetting the 2015 escape of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman." |
| 'Threat of terrorism' sparks call to reopen Canada bomb center Posted: 13 Aug 2016 03:03 PM PDT  The Calgary Police Commission was expected to make its case for the Canadian Bomb Data Centre in a resolution at the Canadian Association of Police Governance annual general meeting on Sunday. The event comes three days after police say an alleged Islamic State supporter detonated an explosive device and was killed in a raid in the province of Ontario. The resolution, by the police oversight body from the city of Calgary, Alberta, did not mention the Ontario incident.
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