World

Dubai opens massive Marvel-branded indoor theme park

Published on Wed, 08/31/2016 - 3:09pm

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As summer temperatures soared outside, the world's largest indoor theme park, featuring popular Marvel and Cartoon Network-branded rides, opened its doors to the public on Wednesday in the Middle East's tourist hub of Dubai — the latest in a myriad of new attractions here.

Italy honors quake victims as bishop warns of reconstruction

Published on Tue, 08/30/2016 - 4:09pm
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AMATRICE, Italy (AP) — An Italian bishop issued a veiled critique of the suspected shoddy construction behind the high death toll of Italy's earthquake and warned during a state funeral Tuesday that the rebuilding effort must not become a "looting" of state coffers.

"Earthquakes don't kill. What kills the most is the work of man," Rieti Bishop Domenico Pompili told the weeping crowds gathered in the shadow of Amatrice's ruins for the funeral for some of the 292 victims.

Crossbow suspect alleged to have killed mother, brothers

Published on Tue, 08/30/2016 - 4:01pm

TORONTO (AP) — A man who allegedly used a crossbow in a triple homicide in Toronto last week killed his mother and two brothers, according to police.

A judge lifted a publication ban on the identities of the victims Tuesday and court records show the people killed in last Thursday's attack were Susan Ryan, 66, Alexander Ryan, 29, and Christopher Ryan, 42. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash confirmed the victims were Brett Ryan's mother and brothers.

Ryan, 35, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Islamic State group says spokesman killed in Syria

Published on Tue, 08/30/2016 - 4:00pm

BEIRUT (AP) — The Islamic State group's spokesman and chief strategist, who laid out the blueprint for the extremist group's attacks against the West, has been killed while overseeing operations in northern Syria, the group announced Tuesday.

The IS-run Aamaq news agency said Abu Muhammed al-Adnani was "martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns in Aleppo," and vowed to avenge his death. It did not provide any further details on when or how he died.

Prosecution presents case to oust Brazil President Rousseff

Published on Tue, 08/30/2016 - 3:57pm

BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — The lead prosecutor in the trial to oust Brazil's first female president said Tuesday that Dilma Rousseff had committed "fraud" in her accounting practices, then came to tears saying she hopes the leader forgives her for causing her to suffer.

Speaking on the fifth day of a trial to decide Rousseff's fate, Janaina Paschoal said the leader had broken fiscal responsibility laws in managing the federal budget. "We are not dealing with a little accounting problem, we are dealing with fraud," she said.

Italy earthquake kills at least 159, reduces towns to rubble

Published on Wed, 08/24/2016 - 4:58pm
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AMATRICE, Italy — Rescue crews using bulldozers and their bare hands raced to dig out survivors from a strong earthquake that reduced three central Italian towns to rubble Wednesday. The death toll stood at 159, but the number of dead and missing was uncertain given the thousands of vacationers in the area for summer's final days.

Turkey makes first major foray into Syria with assault on IS

Published on Wed, 08/24/2016 - 4:56pm

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey on Wednesday launched its first major ground assault into Syria since the country's civil war began, sending in tanks and special forces backed by U.S. airstrikes to help Syrian rebels retake a border town from Islamic State militants.

Syria's first responders: 'Most dangerous job in the world'

Published on Fri, 08/19/2016 - 2:18pm
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BEIRUT— It took Mahmoud Fadlallah and the team of seven rescue workers 30 minutes to reach the middle-aged couple trapped beneath the rubble of their apartment building in the contested Syrian city of Aleppo. They had been notified a rocket had struck the building, and they had to wait for the debris to fall and the dust to settle.

UN to provide 'material assistance' to Haiti cholera victims

Published on Fri, 08/19/2016 - 2:15pm
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UNITED NATIONS— Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is working on a package that would provide "material assistance" to cholera victims in Haiti, his spokesman said Friday, strongly indicating for the first time that hundreds of thousands of people affected will get financial help from the United Nations.

Iraqi in Polish jail for paint trace on luggage, father says

Published on Fri, 08/19/2016 - 2:13pm
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WARSAW, Poland— Ahead of a visit last month to Poland by the pope, with security extremely high, Polish police arrested an Iraqi man for possessing "trace amounts" of an explosive. A month later, the man is still in a Polish prison and his father is appealing for his release, insisting that his son is innocent and that the suspicious material was nothing more than a bit of paint on his suitcase.