| Syria announces new offensive, diplomats fail to renew truce Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:20 PM PDT  By Tom Perry and Lesley Wroughton BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syria announced a new offensive against rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Thursday while diplomats failed to find a way in New York to revive a U.S. and Russian-brokered ceasefire that collapsed this week. Warplanes mounted the heaviest air strikes in months against rebel-held districts of Syria's commercial hub and largest city, dealing a fresh blow to efforts to end Syrian civil war that has raged since 2011. Rebel officials and rescue workers said incendiary bombs were among the weapons that rained down on Aleppo.
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| Iraqi army says it recaptured key town south of Mosul Posted: 22 Sep 2016 07:35 AM PDT  By Ghazwan Hassan TIKRIT, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi forces backed by air strikes from the U.S.-led coalition gained complete control of the northern district of Shirqat on Thursday, bringing the military a step closer to a main push on Mosul later this year. Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the military's joint operations command, said in a statement broadcast on state television that the district had been liberated from "the desecration of terrorism". Shirqat, on the Tigris river 100 km (60 miles) south of Mosul, has been surrounded for months by Iraqi troops and Iranian-backed Shi'ite Muslim militias allied to the government.
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| Eight wounded as rockets from Syria pound Turkish border town Posted: 22 Sep 2016 11:44 AM PDT By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ayla Jean Yackley DIYARBAKIR/ANKARA (Reuters) - Six children were among eight civilians wounded when three rockets fired from Islamic State-controlled territory in Syria hit a Turkish border town on Thursday, the Turkish military said. The attacks on Kilis were the first since Turkish-backed Syrian rebels swept into northern Syria last month to clear Sunni Islamist fighters from Turkey's southern border. U.S.-led coalition forces carried out 20 air strikes against Islamic State targets in northern Syria on Thursday, "neutralizing" 40 militants, the Turkish military said. |
| Palestinians' Abbas seeks British apology for 1917 Jewish homeland declaration Posted: 22 Sep 2016 01:40 PM PDT  By Arshad Mohammed and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain should apologize for its 1917 declaration endorsing the founding of a Jewish homeland in Palestine and should recognize Palestine as a state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Abbas said that the Palestinian people had suffered greatly because of the Balfour Declaration in which Britain said it favored the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine but that this should not undermine the rights of others living there.
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| Abe becomes first Japanese leader to visit Communist-ruled Cuba Posted: 22 Sep 2016 10:54 AM PDT  By Sarah Marsh HAVANA (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the first Japanese leader to visit Communist-ruled Cuba on Thursday, landing in Havana to hold talks with Cuban President Raul Castro on topics from boosting trade to curbing North Korea's nuclear program. Abe's visit to the Caribbean island is one of a slew by western leaders since it began normalizing ties with the United States nearly two years ago. U.S. President Barack Obama visited Cuba in March.
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| Canada, China agree to tighten trade ties, mull extradition pact Posted: 22 Sep 2016 11:44 AM PDT  By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada and China on Thursday settled a trade dispute and said they would start exploratory talks on a free trade pact, but gave few details about a possible extradition treaty for Chinese fugitives which has triggered criticism in Canada. Canada's Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected last year, is trying to improve ties and increase trade with the world's second-largest economy after a decade of rocky relations under his Conservative predecessor. Trudeau and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, who had already met in Beijing earlier this month, agreed to solve a drawn-out dispute over exports of Canadian canola, worth C$2 billion a year.
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| Top U.S. general: Unwise to share intelligence with Russia on Syria Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:55 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. general told Congress on Thursday it would be unwise to share intelligence with Russia and stressed that would not be one of the military's missions if Washington and Moscow were to ever work together against Islamist militants in Syria. The United States and Russia clinched a ceasefire deal earlier this month that held out the possibility of joint targeting of militants after a cessation of hostilities and delivery of humanitarian aid. The text of one of several related documents, published on Thursday by the State Department, said both countries would "share intelligence and develop actionable targets for military action" against the al Qaeda-linked group formerly known as Nusra Front.
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| U.S., Russia fail to agree on how to revive Syria ceasefire Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:55 PM PDT By Lesley Wroughton, John Irish and Denis Dyomkin NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States and Russia failed to agree on how to revive a short-lived ceasefire in Syria during what the U.N. Syria mediator called a "long, painful, difficult and disappointing" meeting on Thursday. The International Syria Support Group, including the U.S., Russia and other major powers, met on the sidelines of the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders in New York as the Syrian army announced the start of a new military offensive in the rebel-held east of the city of Aleppo. "We have exchanged ideas with the Russians and we plan to consult tomorrow with respect to those ideas," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, expressing concern at the reports of the planned new Syrian offensive. |
| Canada focused on own game, set to race Russia in semifinals Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:55 PM PDT  TORONTO (AP) — One by one, the Canadian players strolled into the media room at Air Canada Centre on Thursday afternoon for an off-day availability at the World Cup of Hockey.
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| Syria toxic gas inquiry report delayed; France, Britain urge U.N. action Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:51 PM PDT  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council has given an international inquiry five more weeks to complete its report on who is to blame for toxic gas attacks in Syria as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, France, Britain and others push for those responsible to be punished. In its most recent report to the Security Council last month, the joint United Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inquiry said that Syrian government troops were responsible for two toxic gas attacks and Islamic State militants used sulfur mustard gas.
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| Wenger's highs and lows at Arsenal Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:48 PM PDT  Arsene Wenger celebrates 20 years as Arsenal manager this week. Nothing better encapsulated the Wenger revolution than the sight of committed but cumbersome defender Tony Adams reborn as a swashbuckling goalscorer when the Gunners clinched the Premier League title in 1998 with a 4-0 win over Everton before making it a double celebration with an FA Cup final triumph against Newcastle. A year after Michael Owen's late goals condemned Arsenal to a painful loss against Liverpool in the FA Cup final, Wenger returned to Cardiff's Millennium Stadium to regain the trophy in 2002 thanks to goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg.
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| Undersea quake measuring 6.4 magnitude strikes southeast of Tokyo: USGS Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:48 PM PDT A strong undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 struck southeast of Tokyo on Friday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said. There was no tsunami warning issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii. Japan's weather agency said there could be slight changes in the sea level but no damage to Japan. |
| Mexican priest disappears after two others killed Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:37 PM PDT  A priest has disappeared in Mexico's troubled western state of Michoacan along with a teenage boy, officials said, the same week two more clerics were killed in another region. Jose Alfredo Lopez Guillen vanished on Monday and his parish house in the village of Janamuato, within the municipality of Puruandiro, was "looted," Cardinal Alberto Suarez Inda said. Suarez, the archbishop in the state capital Morelia, called it a "kidnapping," but the state prosecutor's office said no ransom has been demanded so far.
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| Troops, extra police in Charlotte to prevent more clashes Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:21 PM PDT  Hundreds of National Guard troops and police reinforcements converged on Charlotte, mobilized to prevent a third night of violent protests over the fatal police shooting of a black man. The tense southern city was under a state of emergency amid growing complaints that the authorities were slow to respond to crowds protesting the death of Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old African American, on Tuesday. One person was shot and seriously wounded and 44 were arrested as the protests swept through downtown Charlotte late Wednesday and early Thursday, triggered by the latest in a string of police-involved killings of black men that have fueled outrage across the United States.
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| Australia takes big lead in World Amateur Team Championship Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:20 PM PDT RIVIERA MAYA, Mexico (AP) — Cameron Davis and Harrison Endycott each shot 5-under 66 on Thursday at Iberostar Playa Paraiso to help Australia take an eight-stroke lead in the World Amateur Team Championship. |
| Scholars who studied liars, put pants on rats win Ig Nobels Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:17 PM PDT BOSTON (AP) — A Swede who wrote a trilogy about collecting bugs, an Egyptian doctor who put pants on rats to study their sex lives and a British researcher who lived like an animal have been named winners of the Ig Nobels, the annual spoof prizes for quirky scientific achievement. |
| Most Puerto Ricans face a second night without electricity Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:15 PM PDT  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Most Puerto Ricans faced another night of darkness Thursday as crews slowly restored electricity a day after a fire at a power plant caused the aging utility grid to fail and blacked out the entire island of 3.5 million people.
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| Venezuela opposition vows 2016 Maduro vote despite setback Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:10 PM PDT  By Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Foes of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Thursday to push for a recall referendum against him this year, defying the country's election authority which said any vote to remove the unpopular socialist leader could not take place until early 2017. The timing of a potential plebiscite is key: if held this year and Maduro loses, new elections would be triggered. If a vote is delayed to 2017, however, Maduro would be replaced by his vice president, as per the Constitution.
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| Goffin beats Struff to reach Moselle Open quarterfinals Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:06 PM PDT  METZ, France (AP) — Second-seeded David Goffin of Belgium beat Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff 6-4, 6-2 on Thursday to reach the quarterfinals of the Moselle Open.
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| Brazil police arrest former finance minister in Petrobras probe Posted: 22 Sep 2016 05:00 PM PDT  By Brad Haynes and Brad Brooks SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian police arrested former Finance Minister Guido Mantega on Thursday as a sweeping corruption investigation struck further at the heart of the Workers Party (PT) that ran the country for 13 years. Police investigators told a news conference they took Mantega, long a confidant of recently impeached former President Dilma Rousseff and an early member of the PT, into custody at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo. The investigators said Mantega in 2012 requested a payment of 5 million reais, about $2.5 million at the time, from Brazilian business tycoon Eike Batista, a billionaire who has since lost his fortune, to pay PT campaign debts.
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| Rouhani uses UN to hit US over nuclear deal Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:56 PM PDT  Iran used the UN General Assembly on Thursday to accuse the United States of failing to implement aspects of the historic nuclear deal, demanding that Washington do so or risk formal complaint. President Hassan Rouhani complained that America is dragging its feet on its side of the bargain, and elaborated on his complaints at a follow-up news conference with reporters. "The lack of compliance with the JCPOA on the part of the United States in the past several months represents a flawed approach that should be rectified forthwith," Rouhani told the world body, referring to the deal.
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| China, Canada resolve canola-shipping dispute Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:53 PM PDT By David Ljunggren and Rod Nickel OTTAWA/WINNIPEG (Reuters) - Canada and China have agreed on a long-term solution to a trade dispute over C$2 billion ($1.53 billion) worth of annual canola sales, leaders of the two countries said on Thursday, setting aside their spat over the crop as they seek to broaden trade ties. China announced plans this year to toughen its standard on foreign material, called dockage, in Canadian canola shipments, before twice backing down near its deadlines. The solution is "predictable, science-based and stable," ensuring access for Canadian shipments to China, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in Ottawa at a joint press conference with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. |
| Syria launches Aleppo push as truce plan flounders Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:51 PM PDT  A defiant Syrian regime launched a new assault on rebel-held eastern Aleppo on Thursday as the United States and Russia failed to revive a floundering peace plan. US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gathered two dozen international envoys at talks in New York to address the crisis. Kerry said he was ready to meet the Russians again on Friday to see if there are any means to revive the truce that failed this week, but diplomats were pessimistic.
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| South Korea's Whee Kim leads Web.com Tour Finals event Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:48 PM PDT COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — South Korea's Whee Kim shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Web.com Tour Finals' Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship . |
| Kerry admits diplomacy at impasse as Syrian truce collapses Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:45 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The United States and Russia ended any pretenses Thursday of their cease-fire for Syria remaining in force after days of increased violence and the Syrian military's announcement of a new offensive in Aleppo.
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| AP Exclusive: Assad blames US for collapse of Syria truce Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:43 PM PDT  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — He's been stigmatized internationally, a contentious figure presiding over a ruinous civil war that seems to slip into further depravity every day. But in his power base in the Syrian capital, President Bashar Assad projected confidence — conceding nothing to his critics, and accusing the U.S. of derailing a cease-fire and lacking the "will" to fight extremists in his country.
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| Israel, Palestinians clash over settlements at UN Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:37 PM PDT  The Israeli and Palestinian leaders Thursday stood poles apart at the UN General Assembly Thursday, clashing over the cause of their decades-old conflict and Jewish settlements in the West Bank. A flare-up in violence has killed 230 Palestinians and 34 Israelis since last October, which analysts say has been fueled by Palestinian frustration with Israeli settlement building, fractured Palestinian leadership and zero progress on peace efforts. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who was elected 11 years ago and whose control is limited to autonomous areas in the occupied West Bank with radical group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, took the podium first at the General Assembly, slamming Jewish settlement expansion.
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| British programs win Int'l Emmys for News, Current Affairs Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:35 PM PDT NEW YORK (AP) — Britain's Sky News has won the International Emmy for News for "Migration Crisis" describing the perilous journey of a group of migrants from Turkey to Greece as well as clashes between riot police and refugees on the Hungary-Serbia border. |
| Russia beats Finland 3-0 to reach World Cup semifinals Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:32 PM PDT  TORONTO (AP) — Vladimir Tarasenko and Ivan Telegin scored 1:19 apart in the second period and Russia beat Finland 3-0 on Thursday to set up a World Cup of Hockey semifinal against Canada — and knock out Team North America.
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| Rouani: Halt on flights over Syria would help radicals Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:23 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday joined in opposing a call by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to halt all flights over Syria in efforts to get relief shipments through, saying that would only help Islamic radicals gain ground.
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| Dustin Johnson keeps right on rolling at East Lake Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:23 PM PDT  ATLANTA (AP) — Dustin Johnson was in trouble from the start Thursday, just not for very long. The game feels easy for the U.S. Open champion, who began his bid for the FedEx Cup title on Thursday with a 4-under 66 to share the lead at the Tour Championship.
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| Syria announces new offensive, diplomats fail to renew truce Posted: 22 Sep 2016 04:01 PM PDT By Tom Perry and John Irish BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Syria announced a new offensive against rebel-held areas of Aleppo on Thursday while diplomats failed to find a way in New York to revive a U.S. and Russian-brokered ceasefire that collapsed this week. Warplanes mounted the heaviest air strikes in months against rebel-held districts of Syria's commercial hub and largest city, dealing a fresh blow to efforts to end Syrian civil war that has raged since 2011. Rebel officials and rescue workers said incendiary bombs were among the weapons that rained down on Aleppo. |
| The Latest: Rouhani says not important who wins US election Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:59 PM PDT  UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The latest on the high-level U.N. General Assembly meetings (all times local):
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| Valencia earns 1st win thanks to own goal and late penalty Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:58 PM PDT MADRID (AP) — Valencia needed to win no matter what to try and change its fortune after one of its worst starts ever in the Spanish league, and it did it with the help of an own goal and a late penalty kick against Alaves on Thursday. |
| Iran's Rouhani at U.N. calls on rival Saudi to cease 'divisive policies' Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:57 PM PDT  By Parisa Hafezi and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called on regional rival Saudi Arabia to "cease and desist" from "divisive policies" if it was serious about regional peace and security. Rouhani was addressing the United Nations General Assembly the day after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef suggested Iran should be a better neighbor in the region and not interfere in the affairs of other countries. The leading Shi'ite Muslim power, Iran and Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia are both fighting Sunni militants of Islamic State, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq and has supporters and sympathizers worldwide who have carried out bombings and shootings of civilians.
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| German anti-immigrant AfD party gets 16 percent, highest ever, in new poll Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:54 PM PDT  The anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party would capture 16 percent of the vote if a federal election were held now, according to an opinion poll on Friday which showed it drawing more support than ever before. The poll released by public broadcaster ARD said Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives would get 32 percent of the vote, while the Social Democrats, junior partner in the ruling coalition, would get 22 percent. The AfD made huge gains in two regional elections this month and will now have seats in 10 of 16 state assemblies, benefiting from a backlash against Merkel's open-door refugee policy and the arrival of nearly a million migrants last year.
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| 2,000 protest in Romania over minister's immunity Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:45 PM PDT  Around 2,000 people protested in Romanian capital Bucharest late Thursday over the Senate's refusal to lift the immunity from prosecution of a former interior minister for "involuntary homicide". Romania's powerful anti-corruption agency opened an enquiry last October into the death of a police motorcyclist who was escorting the former interior minister, Gabriel Oprea. Prosecutors allege that Oprea had abused the police outrider service and illegally purchased a luxury car from the account of his ministry's in-house secret service, the DIPI.
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| French-American honored for helping thwart 2015 train attack Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:41 PM PDT  PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande has bestowed a Legion of Honor award on a French-American who was among passengers who stopped a gunman on a high-speed train in 2015, and was wounded after grabbing his assault rifle.
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| Syria meeting breaks up without plan to restore truce Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:41 PM PDT  A high-level international meeting on the crisis in Syria broke up Thursday without agreement on a way to revive a collapsed US and Russian-brokered truce. US Secretary of State John Kerry said his Russian counterpart had not been able to promise to ground Syria's bombers and to halt the bombardment of its cities. "The question now is whether there remains any real chance of moving forward, because it is clear that we cannot continue on the same path any longer," Kerry said.
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| Satellite technology beams expertise to remote Alaska clinic Posted: 22 Sep 2016 03:31 PM PDT  ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The only clinic in one of the nation's busiest commercial fishing ports is so remote that even conventional telemedicine for emergencies has been impossible for its limited staff — until this week.
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