WorldNews

[attach=full]19399[/attach] Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu extended a "hand of peace" to the Palestinians Wednesday as he was formally tasked with forming a government after his surprise reelection following a divisive campaign. The prime minister also pledged to shore up crumbling ties with Washington while continuing to oppose an emerging nuclear deal with Iran as he accepted the task of putting together a new coalition government. Last week's victory by Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party came after a bitterly fought campaign that exposed deep splits within Israeli society and a particularly damaging rift with key ally Washington. Netanyahu himself was at the centre of most of the controversy after he ruled out the establishment of a Palestinian state if reelected, pledged to build more settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem and played the race card at the expense of Israel's Arab minority. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is providing intelligence and surveillance support for operations in Tikrit against Islamic State militants, the White House said on Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters he had no comment on additional policy decisions related to operations there. Iraqi President Fouad Massoum on Wednesday said he expected the U.S.-led coalition would soon carry out air strikes in Tikrit. ... Continue reading...

[attach=full]19388[/attach] BRUSSELS (AP) — European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the Greek government is to present no later than early next week the reform plans that are key to unlocking urgently needed rescue funds. Continue reading...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Historians at the Auschwitz memorial and high school officials in central Poland are trying to determine how a list of 15 Polish and Jewish inmates of the Nazi death camp made it into a school library book. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Associated Press has learned that two Americans presumed to have died in the plane crash in the French Alps include a U.S. government contractor and her daughter. Continue reading...

Germany's Bundesbank chief, Jens Weidmann, said on Wednesday Greece was still far from the end of its "marathon" reform process and that it would be "tragic" if Athens gave up the economic adjustments it has already made. The latest debate around Greece showed the euro zone crisis had unfortunately not been overcome, Weidmann, who sits on the European Central Bank's policymaking Governing Council, said in the text of a speech for delivery in Munich. "Those who blame the ECB and European politics for the economic weakness in the crisis countries confuse cause and effect," Weidmann said, adding that reform measures were starting to work in these countries. "It would, therefore, be tragic if Greece were to give up its adjustment process now and give away what it has achieved." "But it is also clear: the economic adjustment process is more like a marathon than a sprint. Continue reading...

Safety in aviation is not a given, the chief executive of Lufthansa said, a day after a plane operated by its Germanwings unit crashed into the French Alps, killing all 150 onboard. "Visiting the crash site I was, in a shocking moment, made aware of a fact that all of us know so well - safety in aviation is not a given," Carsten Spohr said in a video message posted on YouTube on Wednesday. It's my promise and the promise of the 120,000 people working at Lufthansa around the world that this priority will continue to be our top target," he added. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19380[/attach] ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of Greeks lined a main central Athens avenue despite rain on Wednesday to watch the country's annual Independence Day military parade, with spectators allowed along the route for the first time in about three years. Continue reading...

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Aden airport in Yemen closed on Wednesday and all flights were canceled due to security concerns, guards at the facility told Reuters, following a rapid advance towards the southern city by Houthi militia backed by army units. Houthi forces and their army allies appear poised to capture Aden in a military push apparently aimed at unseating President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who is based in the city. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi, Writing by Noah Browning, Editing by William Maclean and Alison Williams) Continue reading...

[attach=full]19379[/attach] NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities closed a Chinese restaurant in the capital which was accused by a local newspaper of refusing to serve Africans. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and its allies staged 19 air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq in the latest round of daily attacks, the Combined Joint Task Force said on Wednesday. The strikes occurred between Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. In Syria, all five airstrikes hit near the city of Kobani and struck Islamic State tactical units, fighting positions and vehicles. The task force said a total of 14 strikes hit in Iraq near Bayji, Falluja, Mosul and Tal Afar hit tactical units, vehicles, excavators, machine guns and buildings. ... Continue reading...

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Victoria won its 29th Sheffield Shield first-class cricket title on Wednesday with a draw against Western Australia state on the fifth day at Bellerive Oval. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19377[/attach] By Stella Dawson WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The Coca-Cola Co has made a good start in axing land grabs from its supply chain, but it must work harder in proving that its bottlers and sugar suppliers do not violate land rights, development experts told the company. Coke declared two years ago that land grabbing is unacceptable, and as a major buyer of sugar pledged to help protect land rights of local communities, including evaluating its top 16 cane sugar-sourcing countries by 2020. In the first of those reports released earlier this month, Coke said it found no evidence of land rights abuses by five sugar mills it buys from in Guatemala. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19376[/attach] Tepisha Nyakwach, aged 33 and a mother of five, has an idea on how to end South Sudan's seemingly intractable civil war: let the country's two main rivals fight it out one-on-one. "If these two leaders are not going to bring peace to South Sudan, why not have the two of them fight each other with their own hands or guns, so they don't use our husbands or children?" said Nyakwach, waiting for United Nations food handouts that keep her from slipping into malnutrition. Across South Sudan, frustration and anger is growing over the humanitarian toll from the 15-month-old feud between President Salva Kiir and Riek Machar, his former deputy and now the main rebel leader. Peace talks brokered by South Sudan's neighbours broke down at the start of the month, with both sides making no secret of their intent to press on with a military solution. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19375[/attach] Ukraine's president has dismissed one of the country's most controversial tycoons from his regional governor's post, his office said Wednesday, in a showdown baring the infighting between powerful oligarchs even as the country struggles to combat pro-Russian insurgents. President Petro Poroshenko -- himself a billionaire magnate -- accepted Igor Kolomoisky's offer to step down as head of the strategic central Dnipropetrovsk region, the presidency said, after a dispute over control of the main state oil and gas firm descended into open confrontation. "The president of Ukraine confirmed Igor Kolomoisky's request to resign" at a meeting between the two men in Kiev, the presidency said in a statement released overnight. Banking billionaire Kolomoisky was appointed to the post after the ouster of Kremlin-backed president Viktor Yanukovych last year and has proved a staunch bulwark against a pro-Russian rebellion rocking neighbouring eastern regions. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19374[/attach] Army officers loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a powerful ally of Yemen's Houthi militia, strongly reject any foreign intervention to end the country's worsening conflict, a statement carried on a website affiliated to Saleh said. Hadi, a political foe of Saleh's, asked the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to back military action by "willing countries" to combat an advance by the Houthis, who seized the capital in September and become Yemen's de facto main power. The statement by the Higher Committee added that all armed forces members "will confront with all their strength and heroism" any threat to Yemen's unity and territorial integrity. His forces have stationed tanks and artillery on a number of roads linking north and south Yemen. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19371[/attach] SAO PAULO (AP) — A Rio de Janeiro judge has rejected prosecutors' request to halt construction at the Olympic golf course, clearing a major hurdle in the sport's return to the games after a 112-year absence. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19370[/attach] KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — CiCi Bellis defeated Indy De Vroome of the Netherlands 6-2, 6-2 for her second career WTA main draw match win on Tuesday at the Miami Open. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19369[/attach] New Zealanders hailed the Black Caps' cliffhanger World Cup semi-final win over South Africa as one of the country's top sporting moments on Wednesday and finally began dreaming of even greater glory in the tournament decider on Sunday. "One to go," trumpeted the front page of the New Zealand Herald, while the Dominion Post's back page headline described victory over the Proteas at Eden Park as "The stuff that dreams are made of". There was also relief at a four-wicket win achieved with just one ball to spare that propelled New Zealand into the final for the first time after a run of six losses in the semis. Continue reading...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Newly crowned Asian champion Australia can restore some of the continent's pride in a match against 2014 World Cup winner Germany in one of several friendlies for Asian teams this week. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19368[/attach] RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — With 500 days to go until the start of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the head of the local organizing committee pledged Tuesday that the games would be the motor of the biggest urban transformation of any Olympic city. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19361[/attach] A Norwegian appeals court increased jail terms Tuesday for a Norwegian woman who drowned her infant and her British lover who gave her instructions via a webcam. Oslo's appeals court sentenced Yasmin Chaudhry and Ammaz Omer Qureshi to 14 and 16 years in prison respectively, after both were found guilty of voluntary homicide. The prosecution had asked for prison terms of 15 and 17 years but a lower court had sentenced the pair to eight and nine years respectively and found them guilty of involuntary homicide. The child, Hunaina Chaudhry, was the woman's daughter from another relationship. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19360[/attach] An Israeli cabinet minister visiting Paris warned Tuesday against concluding a "bad accord" on Iran's nuclear programme, telling French daily Le Monde his country shares France's wariness of trusting Tehran. "We believe it would be a bad accord with severe gaps in it," said Israeli Intelligence Minister Youval Steinitz, who met French President Francois Hollande's diplomatic advisor on Monday. The visit came amid an Israeli lobbying campaign against a nuclear accord with Iran, which saw Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliver a controversial address to the US Congress warning legislators about any deal. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expressing condolences to Germany and Spain and the victims of a plane crash in the Alps. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19359[/attach] Russia failed Tuesday to block a United Nations decision to extend full spousal benefits to legally married gay UN employees. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last June gave same-sex couples the same benefits, such as pension entitlements and travel allowances, that heterosexual couples can expect, provided they were wed in a country where gay marriage is legal. Previously, same-sex couples could only enjoy benefits if they were citizens of a country where gay marriage is recognized, which is not the case in Russia. Moscow tried to block the initiative and demanded a vote before the Fifth Committee of the UN Assembly General, which manages the international organization's budget. Continue reading...