WorldNews

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — An opposition politician in Macedonia who ran in the presidential election last year has filed a lawsuit against the government, claiming he was the victim of a major illegal wiretapping operation. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18447[/attach] Ukraine on Thursday observed a day of mourning after 32 miners died in a blast in a notoriously dangerous mine just a few kilometres from the frontline, where Kiev has reported an increase in attacks by pro-Russian separatists. The Zasyadko mine is located on the outskirts of rebel hub Donetsk not far from the frontline of the conflict between the pro-Russian separatists and Kiev's forces. International monitors have reported sporadic heavy fire in the area of the Donetsk airport nearby despite the EU-mediated ceasefire struck on February 12 aiming to end 11 months of violence that has killed over 6,000 people. Kiev's security spokesmen said that sporadic attacks on its positions killed one Ukrainian soldier since Wednesday, and a civilian working for the emergency services was killed by shelling in Avdiyivka, a village west of Donetsk. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18446[/attach] AbbVie will spend about $21 billion to buy fellow drugmaker Pharmacyclics and add another major revenue producer to a portfolio that already includes the world's top-selling drug. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18440[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — A former crewmember on a Japanese battleship that sank during World War II said Thursday he recognized photos of wreckage discovered this week off the Philippines by a team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18439[/attach] At least 18 civilians were killed in a single regime barrel bomb attack in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Thursday, a monitoring group said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the bomb, dropped from a helicopter, struck an eastern sector of the divided city where people were gathering to buy and sell fuel. In the northern province of Idlib, seven civilians were killed in a regime air strike near a school, Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Observatory, told AFP. The deaths came after UN envoy Staffan de Mistura dispatched a delegation to Aleppo in efforts to freeze fighting there. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18438[/attach] CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Indonesian officials said Thursday they will reject an Australian offer to swap prisoners as part of a last-ditch attempt to save the lives of two Australian drug smugglers expected to face a firing squad within days. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18437[/attach] Peace talks aimed at ending 15 months of civil war in South Sudan appeared deadlocked on Thursday just hours before the expiry of a regionally-imposed deadline for a deal. Hopes of an agreement were dealt another blow as President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar pulled out of their discussions, promising to reconvene mid-afternoon. A deadline set by the east African regional bloc IGAD, which is mediating the talks and growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of results, expires at midnight (2100 GMT). "The two principles will meet again this afternoon after separate meetings with the mediators," said an IGAD spokesman. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18436[/attach] LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization will start large-scale testing of an experimental Ebola vaccine in Guinea on Saturday to see how effective it might be in preventing future outbreaks of the deadly virus. Continue reading...

Russia's Defence Ministry said on Thursday that large-scale military exercises had started in southern Russia and in disputed territories on Russia's borders. The Defence Ministry said the exercises were taking place in Russia's Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts, as well as on Russian military bases in Armenia, the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and Ukraine's Crimea region, which Moscow annexed last year. Continue reading...

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news agency Tass says that Russian media outlets are no longer granted access to official events in Ukraine. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18433[/attach] The US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was recovering from surgery Thursday after having his face and arm slashed by a knife-wielding activist in an attack applauded by North Korean state media. Witnesses described how a man armed with a 25-centimetre (10-inch) paring knife had lunged across a table and attacked Lippert at a breakfast function in central Seoul. In a brief despatch, North Korea's official KCNA news agency called the attack "just punishment" and a valid "expression of resistance" that reflected South Korean public opposition to the joint drills which went ahead over Pyongyang's bitter protests. Kim was a known maverick activist who had been handed a two-year suspended sentence in 2010 for throwing a rock at the then Japanese ambassador to Seoul. Continue reading...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — It looked like a steal: $72 for a round-trip business class ticket on South African Airways between Johannesburg and Abu Dhabi. Continue reading...

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A new group has emerged in Cyprus to claim responsibility for two of five bomb attacks targeting soccer referees in the past year, police said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18425[/attach] By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer island nations in the Indian Ocean a broad range of military and civilian assistance next week in a bid to wrest back some of the influence China has gained by spending billions of dollars in the region. Modi will make the pledges during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles after decades of neglect by successive Indian governments. His trip to Sri Lanka will be the first in 28 years by an Indian prime minister. Continue reading...

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the quarterfinals in the Monterrey Open on Wednesday night, beating Pauline Parmentier of France 6-3, 6-2. Continue reading...

SYDNEY (AP) — Six men were charged in Sydney with drug smuggling and more than 480 kilograms (1,060 pounds) of cocaine and methamphetamine have been seized in Columbia and Australia in a joint Australian-Colombian police operation, officials said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18424[/attach] TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) — Before he was in Major League Soccer, Zach Scott worked in accounting, as a coach and as a substitute teacher to pay the bills while he played in pro soccer's lower division. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18423[/attach] The European Union and Cuba held a third round of "frank" talks aimed at normalizing relations, as Havana and Washington work through their own historic rapprochement. The two-day session in Havana, part of a dialogue that began 11 months ago, is aimed at tackling sensitive human rights issues and finalizing an agreement "on political dialogue and cooperation," meant to turn the page on a decade of estrangement. The talks are being led by European chief negotiator Christian Leffler and Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno. The pair headed the two previous rounds, in Brussels in August and in Havana in April. Continue reading...

The U.S. State Department said the American ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was injured in an assault during a breakfast speech in Seoul but that his injuries were not life threatening. "We strongly condemn this act of violence," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, adding Lippert was being treated at a hospital. President Barack Obama called Lippert to wish him a speedy recovery, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18414[/attach] Since Hugo Chavez died two years ago, Venezuela's economy has tanked and the government has lurched toward more repressive tactics, triggering nostalgia among the late leftist firebrand's supporters and even his opponents. Chavez's hand-picked successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has largely followed his mentor's script for "21st-century socialism," right down to the hours-long diatribes against "American imperialism" and the tracksuits in the colors of the Venezuelan flag. Continue reading...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Former U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, along with 10 Americans, has been given wild cards into the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open next week. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18413[/attach] LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mistakes and miscommunication by three governments on three continents over nearly 20 years led to a homeless man known as "Africa" being on Los Angeles' Skid Row, where he was shot by police after authorities say he became combative and appeared to reach for an officer's weapon. Continue reading...

President Barack Obama has called Mark Lippert, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, to wish him a speedy recovery, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said on Wednesday after the envoy was slashed in the face in Seoul. "The President called U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Mark Lippert, to tell him that he and his wife Robyn are in his thoughts and prayers, and to wish him the very best for a speedy recovery," Meehan said. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Serious Fraud Office says it is investigating Bank of England auctions in 2007 and 2008 that were designed to inject cash into the banking system during the financial crisis. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18411[/attach] NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Ashley Young capitalized on a dreadful error by Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul and scored an 89th-minute goal to earn Manchester United a 1-0 win in the Premier League on Wednesday, tightening his team's grip on fourth place. Continue reading...