World

Russia urges US to fix ties as it cuts US diplomatic staff

Published on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 2:53pm
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MOSCOW — Amid a major diplomatic retaliation unseen since the Cold War era, Russia urged the United States on Monday to show the "political will" to repair ties.

President Vladimir Putin's move to cut hundreds of U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia underlines his readiness to raise the ante in the face of new sanctions approved by the U.S. Congress. The Russian leader warned that he has more tricks up his sleeve to hurt the U.S., but he voiced hope that he wouldn't need to use them.

Kenya election official tortured, killed days before vote

Published on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 2:52pm
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NAIROBI, Kenya — An official crucial to running Kenya's presidential election next week has been found tortured and killed, the electoral commission chairman said Monday, as concerns grew that the East African nation's vote again would face dangerous unrest.

Wafula Chebukati helped identify the body of Christopher Msando at the city morgue and said he had injuries to the neck and head. Mssando had been reported missing a few days ago.

Venezuela defiant as US moves to sanction president

Published on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 2:50pm
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CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's socialist government on Monday claimed a popular mandate to dramatically recast the country's political system even as condemnations of the process poured in from governments around the world and the opposition at home.

Award-winning French actress Jeanne Moreau dies at 89

Published on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 1:14pm
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PARIS (AP) — French actress Jeanne Moreau, the smoky-voiced femme fatale of the French New Wave who starred in Francois Truffaut's love triangle film "Jules and Jim" and worked with many other acclaimed directors during a decades-long career, has died at 89.

Outspoken, provocative and acting well into her 80s, Moreau was among France's most-recognized performers. President Emmanuel Macron celebrated Moreau for going beyond earlier roles as a screen siren to embrace other genres, starring in comedies and action films.

British baby Charlie Gard dies, was center of legal battle

Published on Fri, 07/28/2017 - 1:31pm
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LONDON (AP) — Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British baby at the center of a legal and ethical battle that attracted the attention of Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump, died Friday. He was one week shy of his first birthday.

Charlie suffered from a rare genetic disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which left him brain damaged and unable to move his limbs or breathe unaided.

A family spokeswoman, Alison Smith-Squire, confirmed Charlie's death on Friday, a day after a judge ordered that he be taken to a hospice for his final hours.

North Korea test-fires second ICBM, lands in sea off Japan

Published on Fri, 07/28/2017 - 1:28pm

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea test-fired on Friday its second intercontinental ballistic missile, which flew longer and higher than its first ICBM launched earlier this month, officials said.

"We assess that this missile was an intercontinental ballistic missile, as had been expected," Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said in Washington.

The missile was launched on very high trajectory, which limited the distance it traveled, and landed west of Japan's island of Hokkaido.

US-backed Syrian fighters now control almost half of IS city

Published on Thu, 07/27/2017 - 8:21am
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RAQQA, Syria (AP) — U.S.-backed Syrian fighters have captured almost half of the Islamic State group's de facto capital of Raqqa, but the push into the city in northern Syria has slowed due to stiff resistance and large amounts of explosives planted by the extremists, a spokeswoman for the fighters and monitors said Thursday.

The assault on Raqqa by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led fighting coalition, began June 6, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes and U.S. troops advising the local forces.

Venezuela leader's foes levy new sanctions and fresh strike

Published on Wed, 07/26/2017 - 3:22pm
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Opponents of President Nicolas Maduro at home and abroad tried again Wednesday to pressure the socialist leader into halting his plans to rewrite Venezuela's constitution though there was no public sign their efforts were working.

Charlie Gard's parents ask court to let him die at home

Published on Tue, 07/25/2017 - 3:54pm
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LONDON (AP) — Charlie Gard's parents know their treasured son is about to die. They have one final wish — to take him home, put him to bed and kiss him goodbye.

The mother of the critically ill baby at the center of an international medical and legal battle returned to London's High Court on Tuesday, asking a judge to let the family take Charlie home for "a few days of tranquility" before his ventilator is disconnected and he is allowed to "slip away."

3 Palestinians, 3 Israelis killed in violence over holy site

Published on Fri, 07/21/2017 - 4:41pm
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Escalating Israeli-Palestinian tensions over the Holy Land's most contested shrine boiled over into violence on Friday that killed six people — three Palestinians in street clashes in Jerusalem and three Israelis in a stabbing attack at a West Bank settlement.

After nightfall, a Palestinian sneaked into a home in the Israeli settlement of Halamish in the West Bank and stabbed to death three Israelis.