World

Bombing campaign in Syria kills dozens, demolishes buildings

Published on Fri, 09/23/2016 - 4:20pm
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BEIRUT — Syria's military threatened a ground offensive in Aleppo and pounded the city's rebel-held neighborhoods with airstrikes on Friday, killing dozens, demolishing buildings and damaging a main water station in an escalation that could doom faltering attempts to revive a cease-fire.
 
Rebels vowed to fight to keep President Bashar Assad's forces out of their districts and shelled government neighborhoods, wounding several people, according to state media.
 

North Korea vows in UN speech to strengthen nuclear forces

Published on Fri, 09/23/2016 - 4:17pm
UNITED NATIONS — North Korea's foreign minister condemned the United States on Friday for flying supersonic bombers over South Korea earlier this week and vowed his country will strengthen its nuclear capabilities in defiance of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
 
In a defiant speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Ri Yong Ho said the Korean Peninsula "has now been turned into the world's most dangerous hot spot which can even ignite the outbreak of a nuclear war." He blamed the United States and "its hostile policy" against North Korea.

Power slowly coming back after blackout darkens Puerto Rico

Published on Thu, 09/22/2016 - 4:07pm
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Power was slowly being restored in Puerto Rico on Thursday, nearly 24 hours after a blackout swept across the island when a fire at a power plant set off a cascade of problems that knocked out the aging utility grid.
 

US, Russia poised for new battle over Syria

Published on Thu, 09/22/2016 - 3:34pm
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NEW YORK — With Syria's cease-fire in shambles, the United States and Russia are preparing to butt heads once again over ways to revive it.
 
Amid widespread disagreement Thursday between Washington and Moscow and internal dissent within the Obama administration over how or even if to proceed, Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov convened what diplomats expected to be a fractious meeting of the roughly 20 nations that have declared interests in Syria.
 

World leaders rage against neighbors on 2nd day of UN debate

Published on Wed, 09/21/2016 - 4:27pm
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UNITED NATIONS — World leaders from Pakistan to Ukraine unleashed their regional grievances Wednesday, taking the stage of the U.N. General Assembly to rage against their neighbors and presenting a picture of a chaotic world consumed by intractable conflicts.
 
A few paces from the General Assembly hall, the United States and Russia bitterly attacked each other during a Security Council meeting meant to salvage Syria's faltering cease-fire. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon implored Syria's warring parties to lay down their arms.
 

Uruguay says ex-Gitmo detainee demands exceed government

Published on Wed, 09/21/2016 - 4:19pm
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — President Tabare Vazquez said Wednesday that the demands of a former Guantanamo detainee who is on a hunger strike exceed Uruguay's capacity to deliver.
 
Abu Wa'el Dhiab has not been eating for more than a month trying to pressure the government into letting him join his wife and children in Turkey or in another nation. He agreed to start drinking water late Monday to give the government more time to offer him a proposal to leave Uruguay.
 

Murdered priests mourned in Mexico's troubled Veracruz state

Published on Wed, 09/21/2016 - 4:15pm
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PASO BLANCO, Mexico — Mourners packed a church Wednesday for a funeral Mass in memory of a Roman Catholic priest who was murdered along with another cleric in the troubled Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
 
Parishioners filled all the standing room inside the church in the community of Paso Blanco while others outside listened through the windows, huddling under the eaves as a steady rain fell.
 

Earth smashes yet another heat record; 16th month in a row

Published on Tue, 09/20/2016 - 4:35pm
WASHINGTON — Another month, another global heat record smashed.
 
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday said August's temperature of 61.74 degrees (16.52 Celsius) was .09 degrees (.05 Celsius) warmer than the old August record set last year, and was the 16th consecutive month of record-breaking heat. NOAA monitoring chief Deke Arndt said it was also the hottest summer, with 2016 on pace to smash last year's record for the hottest year.
 

UN chief rails against leaders with 'bloody hands' in Syria

Published on Tue, 09/20/2016 - 4:24pm
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon railed Tuesday against leaders who keep "feeding the war machine" in Syria as he bowed out of the world stage, while President Barack Obama said there was no military solution to the five-year conflict and described a globe in the throes of a contest between authoritarianism and democracy.
 

Bombing in northwest Pakistan mosque kills 24, wounds 28

Published on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 9:27am
KHAR, Pakistan — A suicide bomber attacked a Sunni mosque in northwest Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 24 worshippers and wounding 28 others, officials said. Several children were also among those killed or wounded in the deadly attack.