WorldNews

[attach=full]18208[/attach] Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, gunned down on Friday in a contract-style killing, gave an interview this month admitting he had feared for his life over his opposition to President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin critic who courted public anger by opposing Russia's actions in Ukraine said he often discussed politics with his 86-year-old mother, Dina, who agreed with his views but feared he could suffer deadly consequences. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18202[/attach] President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to bring the "vile" killers of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov to justice as Western leaders and Russia's opposition roundly condemned the drive-by shooting near the Kremlin walls. The 55-year-old former deputy premier who was a vocal critic of Putin, was shot in the back several times shortly before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge a stone's throw from the Kremlin. The murder, investigators added, was the work of one or more gunmen who shot seven or eight times at the opposition figure who in the 1990s served as deputy premier under then president Boris Yeltsin. He "left his trace in Russia's history, in politics and public life," Putin said in the message to his 86-year-old mother, Dina Eidman. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18201[/attach] LONDON (AP) — Crystal Palace continued its rise under new manager Alan Pardew on Saturday when, reduced to 10 men, it won 3-1 at West Ham in the Premier League. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18200[/attach] CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court sentenced five leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to life in prison on Saturday over violence at their headquarters in 2013 and issued death sentences for four others. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18199[/attach] Iran on Saturday shrugged off a bid by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abort a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers by lobbying opposition in a speech to the US Congress. "I believe this effort is fruitless and it should not be an impediment to an agreement," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a joint press conference with his visiting Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni. Continue reading...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian swimmer Joao Gomes Jr. has been banned for six months for a "doping rule violation" by swimming's world governing body FINA. Continue reading...

TOKYO (AP) — Algeria's 2014 World Cup coach Vahid Halilhodzic is set to be named coach of Japan. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18192[/attach] Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said his country's stance is "clear" on the pending executions of two Australian drug smugglers, despite the suggestion by Australia's prime minister that he is "carefully considering" his position. The executions by firing squad of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the Australian ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling gang, are believed to be imminent. Their appeals for presidential clemency, typically the final chance of avoiding death, were recently rejected by Widodo, and a court this week dismissed a bid to challenge that decision. The looming sentences have dramatically heightened tensions between Australia and Indonesia, fraying ties that were only just recovering from a spying row. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18191[/attach] FALUN, Sweden (AP) — France led after the ski jump portion of the Nordic combined team sprint event Saturday at the Nordic skiing world championships. Continue reading...

Romania's coast guard rescued 70 migrants - mostly Syrians and Iraqis - packed on to a small fishing boat that was in danger of sinking as they attempted to make the crossing to Europe in stormy seas on Saturday. The boat, which was crammed with migrants including 20 women and seven children, was helped to safely dock at the port of Constanta, a coast guard spokesman told Reuters. About 500 migrants have arrived by sea to Romania since the middle of 2013, according to coast guard figures, as they flee war, poverty and human rights abuses in the Middle East and Africa. Romanian coast guard spokesman Marius Niculescu said the migrants rescued on Saturday were the first to have attempted to reach Romania by sea this year. Continue reading...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Investigative Committee is pursuing several lines on inquiry following the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, including the possibility it was an attempt to destabilize the political situation, Interfax news agency said. It said the committee, which answers to President Vladimir Putin, also saw an attack by radical Islamists as a possibility in the case and that there could be links with events in Ukraine. (Reporting by Polina Devitt, Editing by Timothy Heritage) Continue reading...

BEIJING (AP) — A former Chinese vice governor known for his appetite for jade and arts was sentenced to 17 years in prison on corruption charges on Saturday, a Chinese court said. Continue reading...

BOSTON (AP) — The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can stay in Massachusetts, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities will use satellite tracking, drones, three naval bases and a fleet of small patrol boats to enforce a new gillnet fishing ban in the upper Sea of Cortes in a bid to save the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18189[/attach] MEXICO CITY (AP) — Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, a former school teacher who became one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights Templar cartel, was captured early Friday by federal police as he tried to sneak out of a house wearing a baseball cap and a scarf to hide his identity. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18188[/attach] The International Olympic Committee executive board on Friday gave the greenlight to organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Games to move three competition venues as part of a plan to trim more than $1 billion from the budget. The IOC board meeting in Rio de Janeiro focused on preparations for the Tokyo games in five years time as well as the next Winter Olympics in the South Korean city of Pyeongchang in 2018. Tokyo Games CEO Toshiro Muto said the Japanese had submitted three venue changes as part of a plan to cut costs of the sporting extravaganza. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is condemning the killing of prominent Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov. Continue reading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — China indicated Friday that it opposes a U.S.-drafted resolution that would open a path for U.N. sanctions against those blocking peace and promoting violence in South Sudan. Continue reading...

An earthquake shook the capital of Guatemala on Friday, a Reuters witness said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or major damage. Mexico's national seismological service said the quake had a magnitude of 5.2 at a relatively shallow depth of 6 miles (10 km), and that the epicenter was on Guatemala's Pacific coast about 95 miles (153 km) southeast of the city of Hidalgo in Mexico's southern state of Chiapas. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18180[/attach] Concerned about a growing number of Canadian youths traveling overseas to join jihadists, and lacking an immediate alternative, political leaders have asked parents to keep a more watchful eye on their children for signs of extremism. "These situations are disastrous," Quebec premier Philippe Couillard said Friday, a day after Canadians learned that six of their own, aged 18 and 19, including two young women, had left for Syria via Turkey mid-January. All of them were born in Canada to immigrant parents who said they sought to instill Western values in their offspring. On Wednesday, an Alberta family revealed that their 23-year-old daughter had flown to Syria. Continue reading...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Puerto Rico regulators shut down Doral Bank on Friday, with Banco Popular taking over most of the operations of what once the U.S. territory's fourth largest bank. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18170[/attach] Watching a football match in Russia often carries echoes of the grim era of hooliganism in 1980s Britain. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18169[/attach] MILAN (AP) — The cape is making a comeback in Milan this season — even though Madonna may have something to say about that. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18168[/attach] The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor pleaded on Friday for the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army rebel chief to surrender, vowing he would receive a fair trial just as his deputy faces. Senior rebel leader Dominic Ongwen, a child-soldier-turned-warlord in Uganda's LRA, appeared before the ICC in The Hague for the first time in January, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda called for the surrender of Ongwen's rebel supremo Joseph Kony, the last LRA rebel indicted by the ICC believed to be still at large. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18167[/attach] February proved to be a strong month for U.S. stocks, even though it ended in downbeat fashion. Continue reading...