| Syria ceasefire deal in balance as Aleppo aid plan stalls Posted: 15 Sep 2016 02:25 PM PDT  By Tom Perry and Tom Miles BEIRUT/GENEVA (Reuters) - Russia said the Syrian army had begun to withdraw from a road into Aleppo on Thursday, a prerequisite for pressing ahead with international peacemaking efforts as the government and rebels accused each other of violating a truce. An organization that monitors the war also said the Syrian army had begun moving away, but insurgent groups in Aleppo said they had not seen the army withdrawing from the Castello Road, needed to allow aid deliveries into the city, and would not pull back from their own positions near the road until they did. The Pentagon said it could not confirm reports of a withdrawal but U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the ceasefire was holding "by and large", adding both Washington and Moscow believed it was worth continuing.
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| Japan to boost South China Sea role with training patrols with U.S.: minister Posted: 15 Sep 2016 12:41 PM PDT  Japan will step up its activity in the contested South China Sea through joint training patrols with the United States and bilateral and multilateral exercises with regional navies, Japanese Defense Minister Tomomi Inada said on Thursday. Inada said in a speech at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank that Japan's increased engagement in the area, where Japan shares U.S. concerns about China's pursuit of extensive territorial claims, would include capacity building for coastal nations. Inada, whose country has its own dispute with China over territory in the East China Sea, said that if the world condoned attempts to change the rule of law and allowed "rule bending" to succeed, the "consequences could become global." "In this context, I strongly support the U.S. Navy's freedom-of-navigation operations, which go a long way to upholding the rules-based international maritime order," she said.
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| Clinton says success of Syria agreement rests with Russia Posted: 15 Sep 2016 01:50 PM PDT  Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Thursday the success of the Syrian ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia depends on whether Moscow decides it is in its interest to follow through with the agreement. "Whether or not this works is really up to the Russians," Clinton told reporters after addressing a campaign rally in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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| EU leaders search for way out of 'existential crisis' Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:16 PM PDT  By Noah Barkin and Alastair Macdonald BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Shaken by Britain's decision to leave the European Union, the leaders of its other 27 countries meet on Friday to try to inject new momentum into their ailing communal project amid deep-seated divisions over migration and economic policy. The Brexit vote in June ended more than half a century of EU enlargement and closer integration. Years of economic and financial crisis have pushed up unemployment in many member states, while a spate of attacks by Islamist militants and a record influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa have unsettled voters, who are turning increasingly to populist, anti-EU parties.
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| Philippines is not 'little brown brother' of U.S.: foreign minister Posted: 15 Sep 2016 01:25 PM PDT  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Philippines is firmly committed to its alliance with the United States but will not be lectured on human rights and treated like a "little brown brother," the country's Foreign Minister Perfecto Yasay said on Thursday. Speaking in Washington after recent remarks by the Philippines' outspoken new President Rodrigo Duterte that have strained relations with the United States, Manila's main ally, Yasay said some of Duterte's remarks had been misunderstood.
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| In triumph for Trudeau, China frees Canadian detained for years Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:31 PM PDT  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Kevin Garratt, a Canadian held in China for two years and charged with spying, returned to Canada on Thursday in what was a diplomatic triumph for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Canadian leader had raised Garratt's case during an official visit to China this month when he both pressed for closer economic ties and openly discussed human rights, which is a sensitive matter in Beijing. "On Thursday, September 15th, Kevin was deported from China and has returned to Canada to be with his family and friends," the family said in a statement requesting privacy.
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| Water protests in tech hub expose urban India's growing pains Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:41 PM PDT  Oracle employees were at work on Monday when protesters entered their nine-storey building in India's technology hub, Bengaluru, and asked them to leave in support of demonstrations that had erupted across the city over a water dispute. A spokeswoman for Oracle in India said no one was available to comment on the incident. Two days of violence, in which protesters torched buses and clashed with riot police after a court ordered Karnataka state to share water from a river with another region, have exposed the growing pains of the dynamic technology hub's chaotic boom.
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| Former Olympic bronze medalist Emma Moffatt to retire Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:36 PM PDT SYDNEY (AP) — Former Olympic bronze medalist Emma Moffatt's appearance in the Cozumel ITU World Championship triathlon event this weekend will be her last before retiring. |
| Army's Golden Knights score 2 skydiving golds for US Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:32 PM PDT  CHICAGO (AP) — Two U.S. Army teams have excelled at the World Parachuting Championships, with the 8-way formation skydiving team trouncing the competition in record-breaking style and the women's 4-way team taking gold after a nail-bitingly close contest.
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| Mexico march seeks president's resignation Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:26 PM PDT  MEXICO CITY (AP) — A social media campaign drew hundreds to a march demanding President Enrique Pena Nieto's resignation as Mexico prepared for its annual independence celebration.
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| FCA recalls 1.9M vehicles for defect that affects air bags Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:22 PM PDT  DETROIT (AP) — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said Thursday it's recalling more than 1.9 million vehicles worldwide because their air bags might not deploy in a crash.
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| Chun & Park share lead at Evian Championship as Ko struggles Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:20 PM PDT  EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France (AP) — South Koreans In Gee Chun and Sung Hyun Park shot 8-under 63 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Evian Championship, the last of the LPGA Tour's five majors.
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| VR arrives at Tokyo Game Show, counted on to revive industry Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:08 PM PDT  CHIBA, Japan (AP) — Virtual reality has arrived for real at the Tokyo Game Show, one of the world's biggest exhibitions for the latest in fun and games.
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| Steph Curry hopes for changes to LGBT law in North Carolina Posted: 15 Sep 2016 05:03 PM PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Stephen Curry says he is disappointed to see sporting events pulled from his home state of North Carolina over a law some say can lead to discrimination against LGBT people. And the two-time NBA MVP hopes lawmakers make changes to the so-called "bathroom bill" before more events follow the NBA's All-Star game and the NCAA men's basketball tournament out the door. |
| Man City look to press home early advantage Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:56 PM PDT  The Premier League season is only four games old, but ahead of Saturday's home game with Bournemouth, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City already appear the team to beat. Last weekend's impressive 2-1 derby win at Manchester United left City with the only 100 percent record in the division and they followed it up with a classy 4-0 Champions League victory over Borussia Moenchengladbach. The Gladbach game was held back 24 hours due to a ferocious rainstorm on Tuesday, but Ilkay Gundogan, who made his debut in Wednesday's rearranged fixture, does not believe it will have an adverse effect.
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| Clinton says 'great to be back' on trail as race tightens Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:55 PM PDT  Hillary Clinton returned to the White House campaign trail Thursday seeking to regain the momentum lost to Donald Trump, especially in the country's key battleground states, during her battle with pneumonia. The former secretary of state, 68, signalled she was raring to go, delivering a speech to students at a university in North Carolina before heading to Washington to a celebration marking Hispanic Heritage Month. The presidential hopefuls are going to pound the pavement in the 10 days to come before their first of three highly anticipated debates on September 26 in New York.
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| Top Asian News 11:54 p.m. GMT Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:55 PM PDT MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A former Filipino militiaman testified before the country's Senate on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was still a city mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead. Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings, and acknowledged that he himself carried out about 50 deadly assaults as an assassin, including a suspected kidnapper fed to a crocodile in 2007 in southern Davao del Sur province. Rights groups have long accused Duterte of involvement in death squads, claims he has denied, even while engaging in tough talk in which he stated his approach to criminals was to "kill them all." Matobato is the first person to admit any role in such killings, and to directly implicate Duterte under oath in a public hearing. |
| Canadian jailed in China over spying allegations freed Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:55 PM PDT TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian citizen who was detained in China for two years over accusations of spying has been freed and has returned to Canada. |
| NHC sees 20 percent chance of cyclone near west coast of Africa Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:53 PM PDT (Reuters) - A tropical wave expected to move off of the west coast of Africa on Friday has a 20 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone in the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Thursday. The wave is expected to then move generally west-northwestward over the far eastern Atlantic, the forecaster said, adding that some slight development of this wave was possible before conditions became less favorable for tropical cyclone formation early next week. |
| China releases alleged Canadian spy Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:53 PM PDT  A Canadian man arrested in China two years ago on charges of spying and stealing state secrets has been freed and is back home in Canada, his family said Thursday. Kevin Garratt was detained in 2014 along with his wife, Julia Dawn, who was later released on bail, in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, on the border with North Korea. Before their arrests, Garratt and his wife, both Christians, had run a coffee shop in Dandong and were active in helping send humanitarian aid to impoverished North Korea.
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| MLB suspends Padres GM Preller 30 days over Pomeranz trade Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:41 PM PDT  BOSTON (AP) — Major League Baseball has suspended San Diego Padres general manager A.J. Preller for 30 days without pay, an unprecedented punishment for what an official said was a failure to disclose medical information when pitcher Drew Pomeranz was traded to the Red Sox in July.
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| UN pleads for Syria aid access after truce extended Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:37 PM PDT  The United Nations urged Syria's government Thursday to allow immediate aid deliveries to hunger-stricken civilians after a fragile ceasefire was extended for 48 hours by Russia and the United States. In a sign of renewed tensions between the two powers, who back opposing sides in the conflict, key regime ally Moscow accused Washington of failing to meet its obligations under the truce deal it brokered with Moscow. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said Moscow wanted a UN Security Council resolution endorsing the deal.
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| German, French FMs push peace bid in war-torn Ukraine Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:31 PM PDT  Slavyansk-na-Kubani (Russia) (AFP) - The German and French foreign ministers made their first visit to Ukraine's war-torn east on Thursday, saying they wanted to push a new bid for peace after a recent surge in violence. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault visited the Donetsk region and viewed a bridge destroyed in fighting between separatist and government forces in the city of Slavyansk. Ayrault said the two men were looking "to create the conditions for a summit" between French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
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| FC Dallas signs veteran forward Carlos Ruiz for stretch run Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:26 PM PDT FRISCO, Texas (AP) — FC Dallas has signed veteran forward Carlos Ruiz for the stretch run in the regular season and the playoffs. |
| Samsung to replace or refund 1 million U.S. Galaxy Note 7 phones Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:16 PM PDT  Samsung received 92 reports of batteries overheating in the United States, including 26 reports of burns and 55 cases of property damage, the company said as it announced the recall in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The recall is a costly setback for Samsung, which was counting on Galaxy Note 7 to bolster sales as rivals such as Apple Inc launch new devices. The scale of the recall is unprecedented for Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker.
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| Barrick suspends operations at mine in Argentina after leak Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:13 PM PDT BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Barrick Gold Corp. said on Thursday that it is temporarily suspending operations at its Veladero mine in Argentina following a new leak. |
| Poll shows most Europeans sympathize with Syrian refugees, 'have not lost their hearts' Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:08 PM PDT  By Umberto Bacchi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - More than three quarters of Europeans sympathize with Syrian refugees coming to their countries, a poll found on Friday, challenging reports of growing anti-immigration sentiment across the continent. Ireland topped the poll of European countries that are most supportive of Syrian refugees with 87 percent of people interviewed there showing sympathy for them, while Slovakia ranked bottom. The Ipsos MORI survey also showed that less than a third of the roughly 12,000 people polled across 12 EU countries believe refugees are a risk to national security despite a number of recent attacks involving migrants.
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| Witness says Philippine president ordered killings of 1,000 Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:05 PM PDT  MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A former Filipino militiaman testified before the country's Senate on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was still a city mayor, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead.
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| Researchers predict sharp rise in migrants entering Europe covertly Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:04 PM PDT  By Pietro Lombardi LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The proportion of migrants using covert means to enter Europe is expected to rise sharply this year despite European nations pouring at least 17 billions euros ($19 billion) into reducing migration over the past 18 months, researchers said on Friday. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said about 60 percent of migrants arriving in Europe this year are expected to use covert means, such as false passports, hiding in trucks or overstaying their visas, compared with 35 percent in 2015. In a report ahead of next week's U.N. Summit for Refugees and Migrants, the UK-based thinktank said 330,000 people are projected to arrive in Europe this year by sea, usually across the Mediterranean, compared with 1.1 million in 2015.
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| Maduro extends Venezuela emergency for fourth time Posted: 15 Sep 2016 04:02 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro extended a state of "economic emergency" for the fourth time Thursday, keeping vast powers to deal with a crisis that has only deepened in recent weeks. Under the emergency, Maduro has put the army in charge of food distribution, seeking to ease severe shortages that have triggered outbreaks of looting and riots. The opposition-controlled legislature has opposed each emergency decree, but Maduro has gotten them validated by the Supreme Court.
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| Colombia asks forgiveness for 1980s-era activist killings Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:47 PM PDT BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's president is asking forgiveness for the state's role in the killings of leftist activists in the 1980s. |
| Brazil's Lula says charges aimed at wrecking his political career Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:43 PM PDT  By Natalia Scalzaretto SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday dismissed corruption charges against him as a fabrication and said he was being framed to stop him from running for the presidency in two years time. "Prove I committed one act of corruption and I will walk to the police station and hand myself in," the gravelly-voiced Lula said at his first public appearance since he was formally charged on Wednesday. Prosecutors charged him with corruption and money laundering for allegedly taking bribes disguised as favors from an engineering firm implicated in the sprawling bribery and political kickback scheme at Petrobras, the state-run oil company.
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| Mother seeks to inspire with film of photojournalist son Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:38 PM PDT  By Alastair Sharp TORONTO (Reuters) - The mother of a Reuters photojournalist killed in Somalia in 1993 wants a film about her son's life to empower others to strive to change the world. "My great desire is that this film will be a spark to ignite a movement of young people and the young-at-heart to believe they have a role to play in changing the world around them," said Kathy Eldon, mother of Dan Eldon and the film's producer. "The Journey Is The Destination," which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday, chronicles the final three years of Dan Eldon's life during which he fell in love, raised money for refugees, drove across Africa to deliver it and became a photojournalist.
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| UN chief calls Netanyahu ethnic cleansing comment outrageous Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:29 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence that Palestinians want the "ethnic cleansing" of Jews in the West Bank "unacceptable and outrageous." |
| Mexico president following California marijuana vote: state lawmaker Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:27 PM PDT  By Gabriel Stargardter MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who has proposed liberalizing his country's drug laws, privately asked California lawmakers visiting Mexico about a state measure to legalize recreational marijuana, a state legislator said on Thursday. A delegation of California Democratic lawmakers visiting Mexico talked for an hour on Wednesday with Pena Nieto about trade and the state's border with Mexico. During the meeting, Pena Nieto brought up the November ballot measure without getting into details, California state Senator Ben Allen said in an interview.
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| Banished Barton says sorry after Rangers row Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:24 PM PDT  Colourful Rangers midfielder Joey Barton has apologised unreservedly after being banished from the Scottish Premiership club's training ground for what he called "inappropriate" comments. Barton's future with the Glasgow giants was thrown into doubt after he was sent home on Tuesday following a reported row with team-mate Andy Halliday. Rangers manager Mark Warburton told Barton not to return until Monday and the 34-year-old will miss Saturday's Premiership contest with Ross County at Ibrox.
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| France's Sarkozy says population bigger threat than climate change Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:23 PM PDT  World population growth is a bigger problem than climate change, French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday, pouring more fuel on a fire he ignited this week when he appeared to downplay man-made climate change. Sarkozy, acknowledging on a late night TV talk show that climate change was "a very serious challenge" said that: "the real challenge is that of demographic change." Earlier this week, the former head of state who is running for the center right Les Republicains party nomination, was quoted in a weekly publication as saying "only man could be so arrogant to think that it is us who is changing the climate." His mainstream conservative rival, former prime minister Alain Juppe, went on the attack after Sarkozy's first comments, saying the former leader was in denial of reality.
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| Bobrovsky starts for Russia, more World Cup decisions await Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:18 PM PDT  TORONTO (AP) — Training camps are over and the games are almost here. It's decision time for all eight teams at the World Cup of Hockey.
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| U.S. lawmakers say Afghanistan corruption threatens future spending Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:17 PM PDT  U.S. senators questioned State Department officials closely on Thursday about corruption in Afghanistan and said failure to address it could cause them to rethink the billions of dollars the United States spends there each year. "I don't know what the political will here in the United States will be to continue to support the Afghans in light of what is going on there," said Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Menendez described himself as someone who has been supportive of U.S. Afghanistan policy, but said he would "have a totally different view" if the government in Kabul does not act.
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| South Korea leads Women's World Amateur Team Championships Posted: 15 Sep 2016 03:14 PM PDT RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico (AP) — Min Ji Park shot a 4-under 68 on Thursday to help South Korea take a seven-stroke lead after the second round of the World Amateur Team Championship |
