World

Probe says missile launcher from Russia downed Malaysian jet

Published on Wed, 09/28/2016 - 3:45pm
NIEUWEGEIN, Netherlands — An international criminal probe concluded that a missile which destroyed a Malaysian passenger jet over Ukraine in 2014 and killed all 298 people aboard was fired from rebel-controlled territory by a mobile launcher trucked in from Russia and hastily returned there.
 
The report, released Wednesday, was "solid proof" of a Russian role in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, Ukraine's president said. But Moscow immediately denounced the findings of the Dutch-led inquiry as "biased and politically motivated."
 

LGBTQ festival canceled in Haiti amid threats, gov't order

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:13pm
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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.

The four-day Massimadi film, art and performance event was supposed to start Tuesday in the capital, Port-au-Prince, but organizers said it had to be postponed as a prominent Haitian cultural institution known as FOKAL and other co-hosts were threatened with arson and other attacks.

Battle for besieged Syrian city of Aleppo intensifies

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:09pm

BEIRUT (AP) — With international diplomacy in tatters and the U.S. focused on its election, the Syrian government and its Russian allies are seizing the moment to wage an all-out campaign to recapture Aleppo, unleashing the most destructive bombing of the past five years and pushing into the center of the Old City.

Desperate residents describe horrific scenes in Syria's largest city and onetime commercial center, with hospitals and underground shelters hit by indiscriminate airstrikes that the U.N. said may amount to a war crime.

Confidential UN report details South Sudan threats, violence

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:06pm

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The U.N. ambulance carried an urgent patient: a local woman in labor. South Sudan government soldiers stopped the ambulance 15 times at checkpoints in the capital, Juba. The Aug. 2 journey, which usually takes 15 minutes, lasted nearly two hours.

Toll from Egypt migrant boat sinking rises to more than 200

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 3:02pm

ROSETTA, Egypt (AP) — Rescue workers on Tuesday pulled dozens of bodies from the hold of an Egyptian fishing boat that sank in the Mediterranean Sea carrying hundreds of migrants trying to make it to Europe, bringing the toll from the disaster to more than 200 dead.

Password breach could have ripple effects well beyond Yahoo

Published on Tue, 09/27/2016 - 2:59pm

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.

While it's unknown to what extent the stolen data has been or will be circulating, giant breaches can send ripples of insecurity across the internet.

Lucky few leave Greece under refugee relocation plan

Published on Mon, 09/26/2016 - 2:42pm
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The bus winding its way through the pre-dawn darkness of Athens' empty streets marks the end of months of danger, hardship and uncertainty. After surviving war, smugglers and perilous sea crossings, its 31 passengers are finally about to start new lives in Europe.

Iran releases Canadian-Iranian professor held since June

Published on Mon, 09/26/2016 - 2:39pm

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A Canadian-Iranian retired professor was released from prison on "humanitarian grounds" and flown out of Iran on Monday, Iran's state-run news agency said, ending her months of detention alongside other dual nationals swept up by hard-liners in the security services.

Homa Hoodfar was flown to the Arab Gulf nation of Oman, the brief report from the IRNA news agency said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed her release in a statement, thanking Italy, Switzerland and Oman for their help in the matter.

India says Pakistan believes terror will bring territory

Published on Mon, 09/26/2016 - 2:36pm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pakistan continues to believe terrorist attacks will allow it to obtain territory it covets in Jammu and Kashmir, India's foreign minister said Monday.

In her speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Sushma Swaraj also rejected accusations made by Pakistan's prime minister from the same podium last week that India violates human rights, calling them "baseless."

She said India has a man in custody "whose confession is a living proof of Pakistan's complicity in cross-border terror. But when confronted with such evidence, Pakistan remains in denial."

Colombia to sign historic peace deal on ending long conflict

Published on Mon, 09/26/2016 - 2:33pm

CARTAGENA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia takes a big step Monday toward emerging from its decades-long nightmare of bloody violence when the government and the country's largest rebel movement sign a peace accord that emerged from four years of negotiations.

The significance of the deal can't be overstated: Colombia's five-decade conflict, partly fueled by the nation's cocaine trade, has killed more than 220,000 people and driven 8 million from their homes.