| Syrian government launches Aleppo ground attack Posted: 27 Sep 2016 12:38 PM PDT  By Tom Perry and Angus McDowall BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces and their allies attacked the opposition-held sector of Aleppo on several fronts on Tuesday, the biggest ground assault yet in a massive new campaign that has destroyed a U.S.-backed ceasefire. The United States says the assault on Aleppo is proof that President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and regional allies have abandoned an international peace process to pursue victory on the battlefield after nearly six years of civil war. More than 250,000 civilians are believed to be trapped inside the besieged rebel-held sector of Aleppo, where intensive bombing over the past week has killed hundreds of people, many trapped under buildings brought down by bunker-busting bombs.
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| U.S., Japan, South Korea consider more steps against North Korea: U.S. Posted: 27 Sep 2016 01:06 PM PDT  The United States, Japan and South Korea have been working to cut off North Korean revenue streams from coal and overseas workers and are considering further joint action after Pyongyang's latest nuclear test, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. Daniel Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said the three countries had been making progress in key areas, including disrupting North Korea's arms trade and de-flagging North Korean ships. "We're focusing our efforts on cutting off sources of revenue for the regime's unlawful nuclear and ballistic weapons programs, including revenue generated through the coal trade and overseas by North Korean workers," Russel said in prepared testimony for a congressional hearing.
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| More attacks foiled on French Riviera since Nice carnage: prosecutor Posted: 27 Sep 2016 01:43 PM PDT  Planned attacks on sporting events, schools and religious sites on the French Riviera have been foiled since the killings of 86 people on Nice's seaside promenade in July, the city's prosecutor has said. "Several cases have been passed on to the anti-terrorism prosecutor in Paris. It was about religious sites, during certain celebrations, sporting events, stadiums, schools," Prosecutor Jean-Michel Pretre told France 3 television, according to excerpts from a documentary program published on its website on Tuesday in advance of broadcast.
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| Kashmiris warn India its crackdown is turning some to militancy Posted: 27 Sep 2016 05:37 PM PDT  By Douglas Busvine and Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Simmering anger over India's crackdown on 10 weeks of protests in Kashmir risks drawing more young people to radical rebellion, demonstrators and security officials warn, as the sense of despair and alienation from New Delhi deepens. "They are treating us like 'dons', like we are criminals," said Bilal Bhat, a 27-year-old journalist who is active in a local youth civil rights movement. A conflict that has seeped for decades and spilled into war twice between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan usually passes little noticed by the international community.
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| Germany boosts security for Muslim centres in Dresden after mosque bombing Posted: 27 Sep 2016 12:17 PM PDT  German police are stepping up protection of Muslim institutions in Dresden after two improvised bombs exploded in the eastern city on Monday evening, one at a mosque and one at an international conference centre. "Even if we so far have no claim of responsibility, we must go on the basis that the motive was xenophobic," Horst Kretzschmar, president of Dresden police, said in a statement. Kretzschmar said three mosques, a Muslim social centre and a prayer room would be given protection immediately.
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| U.S to deploy anti-missile system in South Korea 'as soon as possible' Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:51 PM PDT  By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will speed up deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system to South Korea given the pace of North Korea's missile tests, and it will be stationed there "as soon as possible," the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia said on Tuesday. Daniel Russel, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, also told a congressional hearing the United States was in discussions with international partners, including the European Union, to deny North Korea access to international banking infrastructure after its recent nuclear and missile tests.
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| Muslim radical convicted in destruction of mausoleums Posted: 27 Sep 2016 05:40 PM PDT  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international court on Tuesday found a Muslim radical guilty of committing a war crime by overseeing the destruction of historic mausoleums in the Malian desert city of Timbuktu, and sentenced him to nine years in prison.
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| China shuts schools and recalls fishing boats as typhoon hits Posted: 27 Sep 2016 05:19 PM PDT China shut schools and canceled dozens of flights as Typhoon Megi made landfall in the southern province of Fujian on Wednesday with winds of close to 120 km per hour (75 mph), the official Xinhua news agency said. Megi, which has killed four people and injured more than 523 in Taiwan since roaring in from the Pacific, made landfall at 4:40 a.m. local time (2040 GMT Tuesday). Chinese authorities issued their third-highest severe weather warning in anticipation of the storm. |
| Poll shows minority of Australians want gay marriage vote Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:45 PM PDT CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — An opinion poll on Thursday showed that a minority of Australians support the government's plan to hold a national vote on whether gay marriage should be allowed. |
| LGBTQ festival canceled in Haiti amid threats, gov't order Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:45 PM PDT  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Organizers of a cultural festival in Haiti celebrating the Afro-Caribbean LGBTQ community said Tuesday that it has been called off due to numerous threats of violence and a subsequent prohibition by a government commissioner.
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| Syrian army retakes Aleppo district as bombs rain down Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:44 PM PDT  Syria's army took control of a rebel-held district in central Aleppo on Tuesday, after days of heavy air strikes that have killed dozens and sparked allegations of war crimes. In the first advance since announcing plans last week to retake all of the divided city, pro-government troops seized the Farafira district northwest of Aleppo's historic citadel, a military source told AFP. The push follows several days of Syrian and Russian air strikes on rebel-held Aleppo neighbourhoods -- some of the fiercest bombardment of the five-year conflict so far -- after a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington collapsed last week.
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| Password breach could have ripple effects well beyond Yahoo Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:44 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — As investors and investigators weigh the damage of Yahoo's massive breach to the internet icon, information security experts worry that the record-breaking haul of password data could be used to open locks up and down the web.
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| 'Nice guy' Fowler won't change in Ryder Cup matches Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:30 PM PDT  CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — The first question Rickie Fowler was asked at the Ryder Cup was as good an indication as any of how his year has gone.
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| Islamist rebel gets nine years imprisonment for Timbuktu destruction Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:26 PM PDT  By Stephanie van den Berg THE HAGUE (Reuters) - War crimes judges on Tuesday sentenced a former Islamist rebel who admitted wrecking holy shrines during Mali's 2012 conflict to nine years in prison, in the first such case to focus on destruction of cultural heritage. Human rights groups and international legal experts hope Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi's case in the International Criminal Court may serve as a deterrent to a kind of devastation that continues to be a feature of global conflicts yet has gone largely unpunished. Al-Mahdi expressed remorse for his involvement in the destruction of 10 mausoleums and religious sites in Timbuktu dating from Mali's 14th-century golden age as a trading hub and center of Sufi Islam, a branch of the religion seen as idolatrous by some hardline Muslim groups.
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| Senate blocks stopgap bill to prevent shutdown this weekend Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:25 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A must-do bill to prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and to fund the fight against the Zika virus is stalled in the Senate, held up by bipartisan opposition as the clock ticks toward a Friday deadline.
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| Trump-Clinton debate seen by record 84 million U.S. TV viewers Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:23 PM PDT A record 84 million people tuned in to U.S. television networks on Monday night for the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, a huge audience rarely seen on TV in the age of digital streaming and social media. The estimated ratings figure from Nielsen included people watching the raucous face-off across 13 U.S. cable and broadcast networks and public television station PBS. The audience beat the 80.6 million record set by the Jimmy Carter-Ronald Reagan TV presidential debate in 1980 but fell short of the 100 million viewers some analysts had predicted for the event. |
| Allardyce failed to learn from slip-ups by England managers Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:19 PM PDT  MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Being England manager was the proudest moment of Sam Allardyce's career. He threw it all away after one game because of a series of indiscretions involving undercover journalists, failing to learn from the mistakes of his predecessors.
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| Tearful reunions as Colombia rebels embrace peace Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:11 PM PDT  Miriam Vanegas had not seen her son for 10 years after FARC rebels took him away into the Colombian wilderness. Now the fighters have signed a peace deal, and she has him back. As the FARC -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia -- prepared to approve a historic peace deal signed on Monday, Miriam spotted Pablo Esteban in images filmed at a conference held by the force.
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| UK opens secret files about 'Jewish terrorists' in 1940s Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:08 PM PDT  LONDON (AP) — The call to British military security forces came early in the morning, shortly after 1 a.m., and could not be ignored. The informant's message was alarming: Assassins planned to kill the commander of British forces in Palestine the following morning; evasive action was needed.
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| The Latest: Another victory for US in (Junior) Ryder Cup Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:05 PM PDT  CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — The Latest on the Ryder Cup (all times local):
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| Serena picks Auckland for Aussie Open warm-up Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:04 PM PDT  Serena Williams will headline the Auckland Classic in January, organisers said Wednesday, hailing her appearance as a major coup for the New Zealand tournament. The 22-time Grand Slam winner has never played in the January 2-7 tournament before, preferring to warm-up for the Australian Open at the Hopman Cup in Perth in recent years. Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion, is currently ranked number two in the world after Angelique Kerber broke her 186-week reign at the top.
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| Slimani torments Porto again, Leicester wins 1-0 Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:01 PM PDT  LEICESTER, England (AP) — Islam Slimani kept up his hot streak against Porto by scoring Leicester's first-half goal in a 1-0 victory in the Champions League on Tuesday, maintaining the English champions' 100 percent start to Group G.
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| Final US pick Ryan Moore ready for Ryder Cup debut Posted: 27 Sep 2016 04:01 PM PDT  CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Ryan Moore had just placed second in the Tour Championship, capping a strong weekend in Atlanta with a narrow playoff loss to Rory McIlroy , when he began to load up his gear in the parking lot about 45 minutes later, a flight home to Las Vegas with his family fast approaching.
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| Clinton energized, Trump hits Florida battleground Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:58 PM PDT  An exuberant Hillary Clinton came out swinging against Donald Trump on Tuesday, lashing him as "dangerously incoherent" as her Republican opponent hit the campaign trail hard in battleground state Florida. Clinton's energy suggested she was climbing out of perhaps the worst period of her 15-month campaign, when she blundered by belittling Trump supporters and then was laid up with pneumonia earlier this month. "I felt so positive about it," Clinton told reporters aboard her campaign plane the day after going toe to toe with 70-year-old Trump and frequently forcing her prickly opponent onto the back foot.
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| Obama names career diplomat as US ambassador to Cuba Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:54 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday announced career diplomat Jeffrey DeLaurentis as his choice to become the first U.S. ambassador to Cuba in more than a half-century, a move that sets up a possible fight with congressional critics of Obama's overtures to the communist island nation.
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| Obama power plant rules face key test in court Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:53 PM PDT  The centerpiece of President Barack Obama's climate change strategy faced a key test on Tuesday as conservative appeals court judges questioned whether his administration overstepped its legal authority under an air pollution law to make sweeping changes to the U.S. electric sector. Twenty-seven states led by coal-producer West Virginia and industry groups are challenging the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan rules before 10 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
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| Elon Musk outlines Mars colonization plan Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:53 PM PDT  By Irene Klotz GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters) - SpaceX is developing a massive rocket and capsule to transport large numbers of people and cargo to Mars with the ultimate goal of colonizing the planet, company chief and tech billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday. Musk outlined his plans for the Mars rocket, capable of carrying 100 passengers plus cargo per voyage, even as SpaceX is still investigating why a different rocket carrying a $200 million Israeli satellite blew up on a launch pad in Florida earlier this month. "You can't create a self sustaining civilization if the ticket price is $10 billion per person," he said during a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress meeting in Guadalajara.
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| Mexican immigration officials attacked to free migrants Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:50 PM PDT MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican immigration officials say five gunmen on motorcycles brazenly attacked a government vehicle transporting 25 immigrants and a suspected human trafficker, helping the smuggler and migrants to escape. |
| Rebels could become guides, cheesemakers in post-war Colombia Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:42 PM PDT  By Julia Symmes Cobb and Nelson Bocanegra EL DIAMANTE, Colombia (Reuters) - Veterans of Colombia's FARC guerrilla army could soon be making a living as eco-tourism guides, beef processors or cheese makers under plans by the Marxist group to invest in economic projects once a peace deal takes hold. Vast swathes of rural land abandoned for decades because of war will be open to development, including by ex-fighters from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) working on communal farms and other initiatives funded by the group. President Juan Manuel Santos and top rebel leader Timochenko signed peace on Monday, ending a 52-year-old conflict that killed more than 220,000 people and forced millions more from their homes.
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| Senators press FBI director on response to terrorism threat Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:31 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican senators pressed FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday about whether anything more could have been done to prevent recent acts of extremist violence, including the Orlando nightclub massacre and the Manhattan bombing this month. Comey said the FBI admits mistakes when it makes them, but he did not agree that anything should have been done differently or that any red flags were missed.
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| Pjanic and Higuain help Juventus ease to 4-0 win over Dinamo Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:29 PM PDT  ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Juventus' big summer signings proved their worth as Miralem Pjanic and Gonzalo Higuain helped the Italian side to a 4-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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| Sarkozy would offer UK new EU treaty if he wins French presidency: FT Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:21 PM PDT  (Reuters) - French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy said on Tuesday he would offer Britain a chance to reverse its Brexit vote by negotiating a new treaty for the European Union with Germany, if he wins presidency in 2017, the Financial Times reported. Sarkozy said the new treaty would focus on reforming the Schengen passport-free zone, restricting the European Commission's prerogatives to a dozen, integrating the eurozone further and halting membership talks with Turkey, according to FT.
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| Friend texted worries about boating with Marlins' Fernandez Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:21 PM PDT  MIAMI (AP) — Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez was a patron at a Miami River bar and restaurant the same night he and two friends were killed in a boat crash, a spokeswoman for the establishment confirmed Tuesday.
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| Malian jihadist jailed for Timbuktu attacks Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:21 PM PDT  War crimes judges jailed a Malian jihadist Tuesday for nine years for demolishing Timbuktu's fabled shrines, a landmark ruling seen as a warning that destroying mankind's heritage will not go unpunished. In the first such case to focus on cultural destruction as a war crime, the International Criminal Court found Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO world heritage site during the jihadist takeover of northern Mali in 2012. Mahdi "supervised the destruction and gave instructions to the attackers" who took pickaxes and bulldozers to the centuries-old shrines, presiding judge Raul Pangalangan told the tribunal.
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| Serena Williams to start 2017 season in Auckland Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:19 PM PDT WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Second-ranked Serena Williams will begin her 2017 season and Australian Open buildup at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, organizers confirmed Tuesday. |
| Magnitude 5.4 quake hits off Greek island of Rhodes, no damage Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:18 PM PDT ATHENS (Reuters) - A quake measuring 5.4 struck off the coast of the Greek island of Rhodes late on Tuesday, Athens Geodynamic Institute reported, but there were no reports of damage or casualties. The quake's epicenter was at sea, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) off Rhodes and 387 kilometers (240 miles) southeast of Athens. Greece and its surrounding region are often rattled by earthquakes at sea, most causing no serious damage. (Reporting Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Dan Grebler) |
| Prosecutor: Woman burned alive for witchcraft in Peru jungle Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:17 PM PDT LIMA, Peru (AP) — A woman accused of being a witch was burned alive on a bonfire in an indigenous community in a remote part of the country's Amazon rainforest, authorities said Tuesday. |
| As Aleppo burns, US announces new slice of Syria aid Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:12 PM PDT  With the Syrian city of Aleppo facing a new regime onslaught and Washington's diplomacy under criticism for failing to halt the carnage, the United States announced a new aid package Tuesday. The State Department said it would release a further $364 million to UN aid agencies and NGOs working to help vulnerable Syrian civilians inside and outside the war-torn country. The latest slice of funding brings the total amount that the United States -- the effort's biggest single donor -- has spent since the war started more than five years ago to $5.9 billion.
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| Relief for Vietto as Sevilla edges Lyon in Champions League Posted: 27 Sep 2016 03:11 PM PDT  SEVILLE, Spain (AP) — No Sevilla player felt as relieved as Luciano Vietto after the hosts beat Lyon 1-0 in the Champions League on Tuesday.
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