WorldNews

[attach=full]20082[/attach] Syria said Wednesday a military operation was needed to expel jihadists who have overrun large parts of a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus, trapping thousands of civilians inside. The Islamic State group's advances in the Yarmuk camp have sparked international concern for the civilians, who have already endured repeated bombardment and an army siege of more than 18 months. The European Union has announced additional aid for residents of the camp, saying their suffering was reaching "intolerable levels" and the UN Security Council has urged a humanitarian corridor into the district. Syria's Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar on Wednesday said the crisis required a military operation. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20081[/attach] The African Cup of Nations will return to familiar territory in 2017 after Gabon was chosen as host Wednesday to replace Libya, sending the tournament back to the country that co-hosted it just three years ago. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20080[/attach] By Magdalena Mis LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - United Nations officials warned on Wednesday of a potential "slaughter of innocents" unless aid and assistance reached a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria where thousands of civilians are trapped up in a vicious battle. Some 18,000 civilians, including 3,500 children, are caught in the camp outside Damascus just a few miles from President Bashar al-Assad's palace. The Yarmouk camp, which was home to half a million Palestinians before the conflict began in 2011, has been held by anti-Assad insurgents and besieged by government troops since the early days of the war and many have already fled. "The level of inhumanity that Yarmouk has descended to is frankly unimaginable," Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a Skype interview from Jerusalem. Continue reading...

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — President Michelle Bachelet says the corruption scandals that have rocked Chile have caused a crisis of confidence, but could also be an opportunity for change. Continue reading...

TOKYO (AP) — A Japan Airlines domestic flight returned safely to Tokyo on Wednesday after the pilot shut down an engine due to unspecified trouble while en route to Hokkaido in northern Japan. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20076[/attach] A white policeman in South Carolina has been charged with murder after video emerged showing him repeatedly shooting a fleeing and apparently unarmed black man in the back. The shooting comes in the wake of a series of similar incidents that have provoked outrage and protests in the United States, including the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Walter Scott, 50, was shot Saturday in the city of North Charleston after a scuffle that began with his being stopped for a broken tail light in his car, local media said. South Carolina state police arrested officer Michael Slager, 33, and charged him with murder on Tuesday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20075[/attach] The head of London's British Museum will step down at the end of this year and is to work on a major new cultural project in Berlin, it said Wednesday. Neil MacGregor, who has been in charge since 2002, will leave in December to work on part-time projects including advising German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters on the development of the Humboldt Forum. MacGregor organised a popular exhibition on German history last year at the British Museum, which is the most visited tourist attraction in Britain. The Humboldt Forum, a new museum due to open in 2019, is described by Gruetters as "our most ambitious cultural project" and will be housed in a former imperial palace in Berlin. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20074[/attach] By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is considering evaporating or storing underground tritium-laced water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant as an alternative to releasing it into the ocean, Tokyo Electric Power Co's chief decommissioning officer told Reuters on Wednesday. The removal of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of water containing tritium, a relatively harmless radioactive isotope left behind in treated water is one of many issues facing Tokyo Electric as it tries to cleanup the wrecked plant. Tokyo Electric wants to release the tritium laced water to the ocean, a common practice at normally operating nuclear plants around the world, but is struggling to get approval from local fisherman, who are concerned about the impact on consumer confidence and have little faith in the company. With the release to the ocean stalled, the government task force overseeing the cleanup is looking at letting the water evaporate or storing it underground, chief decommissioning officer Naohiro Masuda, told Reuters at the close of a seminar on decommissioning. Continue reading...

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The leaders of three Estonian political parties have signed a deal to form a center-right coalition government, with Prime Minister Taavi Roivas remaining in his post. Continue reading...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A Dutch journalist has gone on trial in Turkey on charges of engaging in propaganda on behalf of the banned Kurdish rebel group on social media. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20065[/attach] Syria said it is ready to offer Palestinians its firepower to support their battle with the Islamic State group in a refugee camp devastated by clashes and aerial attacks. In the capital, Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad met with a delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organisation headed by Ahmad Majdalani. The "Syrian government had used all its efforts to present humanitarian and medical aid to Palestinian refugees and ... it had helped them exit Yarmuk safely," Meqdad said. "Syria and the PLO are determined to fight terrorism, which has reached Palestinian camps in Syria, notably Yarmuk," he said, quoted by the official SANA news agency. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20064[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday after Japan's central bank maintained its expansively easy monetary policy. Continue reading...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's tourism minister has been replaced just as his father-in-law, the mayor of Caracas, is being charged with conspiring against the socialist government. Continue reading...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's ANZ Banking Group Ltd. has won an appeal against a court decision that late payment fees charged on credit cards were exorbitant and unlawful. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20063[/attach] RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The markets are open around-the-clock, pulling in young mothers, truck drivers, the homeless, anyone looking to get high. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20052[/attach] Prosecutors in Venezuela formally charged Caracas mayor and opposition politician Antonio Ledezma Tuesday with staging a US-funded attempted coup against President Nicolas Maduro. The charge comes as Maduro -- an elected socialist -- heads to a regional leaders' summit in Panama Friday at which Obama is to meet with Maduro's key political ally Cuban President Raul Castro. "The Prosecutors' Office on Tuesday formally charged Caracas mayor and opposition member Antonio Ledezma, who was arrested February 19, with allegedly supporting groups plotting to use violent acts to destabilize the country," it said in a statement. Caracas' chief prosecutor Jose Luis Orta charged Ledezma, 59, with conspiracy and plotting with the as-yet unnamed individuals, and requested that he not be set free, the office's statement added. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20051[/attach] JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Zimbabwe's president has arrived in South Africa for his first official state visit in more than 20 years. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20050[/attach] SAO PAULO (AP) — Thousands of workers staged rallies in 12 cities across Brazil on Tuesday to protest a proposed law that would allow companies to outsource their labor force. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20049[/attach] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. scientists on Tuesday completed a nearly two-week mission to explore waters around the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of a 12-year project to map the Caribbean seafloor and help protect its reefs. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20048[/attach] AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Tiger Woods felt right at home at Augusta National, a golf course he has been playing since 1995. He said he is fascinated that the course keeps making subtle changes, and yet it looks as though it hasn't been touched. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20038[/attach] A Canadian senator at the center of an expenses scandal pleaded not guilty Tuesday at the start of a fraud trial which threatens to cast a shadow over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's bid for re-election. Senator Mike Duffy faces 31 charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust related to his government expense claims, and for Can$90,172.24 ($72,155) he received from Canadian leader Harper's then chief-of-staff, Nigel Wright. Continue reading...

SYDNEY (AP) — Canterbury Bulldogs captain James Graham and forward David Klemmer have been suspended after pleading guilty to "contrary conduct" charges against a National Rugby League referee which led to dozens of water bottles being thrown at match officials at Sydney's Olympic stadium. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20037[/attach] SANAA, Yemen (AP) — As tons of desperately needed medical supplies await clearance to be flown into Yemen, aid workers warned Tuesday of an unfolding humanitarian crisis, saying at least 560 people, including dozens of children, have been killed, mostly in a Saudi-led air campaign and battles between Shiite rebels and forces loyal to the embattled president. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20036[/attach] FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Sebastian Kehl fired a spectacular long-distance volley in extra time to give Borussia Dortmund a 3-2 victory over Hoffenheim on Tuesday and a place in the semifinals of the German Cup. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20035[/attach] Christian Benteke scored a potentially priceless hat-trick as Aston Villa avoided slipping into the Premier League relegation zone by drawing 3-3 at home to Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday. After Matt Phillips put QPR ahead, a Benteke brace gave Villa control, only for second-half goals from Clint Hill and Charlie Austin to leave QPR on the brink of a win that would have taken them out of the bottom three at their opponents' expense. Continue reading...