World

UN agency: survivors says some 126 migrants died in wreck

Published on Mon, 06/19/2017 - 2:59pm
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ROME — Four survivors have told how some 126 fellow migrants drowned off Libya last week when their flimsy rubber dinghy foundered after smugglers removed the engine and fled, the U.N. migration agency said Monday.
Flavio Di Giacomo of the International Organization for Migration said the survivors were interviewed in Sicily after an Italian coast guard ship brought them to Palermo's port Monday.

Venezuela crisis tops agenda for Americas summit in Mexico

Published on Mon, 06/19/2017 - 2:56pm
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CANCUN, Mexico — Foreign ministers from across the Americas gathered in Mexico on Monday with Venezuela's ongoing political crisis foremost on the agenda.
Nearly 70 people have died, hundreds more have been injured and thousands have been detained in months of protests in the South American country, but so far the nations of the Western Hemisphere have been unable to reach consensus on the matter.

Muslims targeted by violence in wake of IS-claimed attacks

Published on Mon, 06/19/2017 - 2:39pm
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LONDON (AP) — The attack on Muslim worshippers outside a London mosque on Monday follows a rising wave of violence and harassment directed against Muslims across Britain and around the world.

This month alone, a Muslim woman wearing a head scarf told police in Lancashire her car was struck by a bag of vomit. Worshippers at the Omar Faruque mosque in Cambridge found strips of ham attached to their vehicles. Several Muslim families have reported receiving letters warning, "You are no longer welcome in this country." Scores say they have been spat on.

Uncertainty over Islamic State leader's fate after airstrike

Published on Fri, 06/16/2017 - 3:48pm
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BEIRUT — Uncertainty and confusion surrounded the fate of the head of the Islamic State group Friday as Russia announced it may have killed him in an airstrike targeting a meeting of IS leaders just outside the group's self-declared capital in Syria, but U.S. officials said there was no definitive proof of his death.

Brazilian sale of tear gas angers Venezuela opposition

Published on Fri, 06/16/2017 - 3:43pm
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CARACAS, Venezuela— A Brazilian company acknowledged on Friday that it is supplying Venezuela's security forces with large amounts of tear gas to control anti-government protests — prompting outrage from the Venezuelan opposition.
Rio de Janeiro-based Condor Non-Lethal Technologies confirmed that it is fulfilling two contracts in Venezuela after opposition leaders presented what they said was a document showing the armed forces had purchased almost 78,000 tear gas canisters in April.

Palestinian attackers killed after killing Israeli officer

Published on Fri, 06/16/2017 - 3:40pm
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JERUSALEM — Three Palestinians armed with an automatic weapon and knives killed a young female officer on duty near Jerusalem's Old City in near simultaneous attacks at two locations Friday evening, before they were shot and killed.
It was the latest bloodshed in a wave of Palestinian attacks on civilians and soldiers that erupted in 2015. At times the attacks were daily occurrences, but they have relatively subsided in recent months. However there have been a string of recent attacks near the Old City.

53 years later, Australia leaves Cyprus peacekeeping force

Published on Fri, 06/16/2017 - 3:37pm
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NICOSIA, Cyprus — With its flag lowered one final time, Australia on Friday ended 53 years of helping to keep the peace on ethnically divided Cyprus by pulling out its last three police officers serving with a United Nations peacekeeping force.
Some 1,600 Australian police officers have served in Cyprus since 1964 following the outbreak of violence between the island's Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. Three Australians were killed in the line of duty in what was their country's first policing contribution to a peacekeeping mission.

Probes launched as search continues for London fire victims

Published on Thu, 06/15/2017 - 12:25pm
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LONDON — London firefighters combed through a burned-out public housing tower Thursday in a grim search for missing people as police and the prime minister launched investigations into the deadly inferno, with pressure building on officials to explain the disaster and assure that similar buildings around the country are safe.

IS says it has taken Tora Bora, bin Laden's Afghan hideout

Published on Thu, 06/15/2017 - 12:22pm
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KABUL, Afghanistan — The Islamic State group says it has captured Tora Bora, a mountain hideout in Afghanistan once used by Osama bin Laden, but the Taliban on Thursday dismissed the claim, saying they were still in control of the cave complex.

IS said its black flag was flying over the area, in a message broadcast late Wednesday on the militants' Radio Khilafat station. The group said it had seized several districts and urged villagers who fled the fighting to return to their homes and stay in place.

Putin sarcastically offers Comey political asylum in Russia

Published on Thu, 06/15/2017 - 12:17pm
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MOSCOW — Wading into the furor surrounding the investigations of the Trump White House, President Vladimir Putin used a national call-in show Thursday to disparage what he called U.S. "political infighting" that is blocking better relations with Russia.

The Russian leader even sarcastically offered political asylum to fired FBI Director James Comey.