WorldNews

[attach=full]18561[/attach] SAO PAULO (AP) — Politicians allegedly involved in the kickback-corruption scandal at the state-run energy company received monthly payments from construction and engineering firms and transferred part of the money to the ruling Workers' Party and its allies, Brazil's Federal Prosecutor's office said in a statement. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18560[/attach] TORONTO (AP) — A Canadian special forces soldier was killed and three others wounded in a friendly fire incident in northern Iraq, Canada's defense department said Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18559[/attach] PRAGUE (AP) — Renaud Lavillenie proved his class again by winning a fourth straight pole vault title at the European Indoor Championships on Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18553[/attach] KVITFJELL, Norway (AP) — Hannes Reichelt claimed his second straight World Cup downhill victory on Saturday, cutting the gap on discipline leader Kjetil Jansrud to just 20 points going into the final race of the season. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — British police acknowledged mistakes Saturday in dealing with the case of three schoolgirls who left the U.K. to join the Islamic State group after families complained authorities should have contacted them directly during their investigation into the disappearance of a classmate. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18552[/attach] MACAU (AP) — Two-time Olympic gold medalist Zou Shiming lost his first title fight on Saturday as reigning IBF flyweight champion Amnet Ruenroeng of Thailand defeated the Chinese boxer by unanimous decision. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18551[/attach] Five people including two Europeans and a Malian police officer were killed in an assault on a Bamako nightclub Saturday, in the first suspected attack targeting Westerners in a city braced for jihadist violence since 2012. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, although suspicion is likely to focus on Islamist rebels operating in Mali's vast desert north, which has struggled for stability since a coup three years ago. Customers of La Terrasse, in Bamako's lively Hippodrome district, described how the masked assailant arrived in a black four-wheel drive and headed to the upstairs restaurant and bar area to begin shooting. "This is a terrorist attack, although we're waiting for clarification. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18550[/attach] Beleaguered President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled to Aden after escaping from Shiite militia controlling Sanaa, considers the southern port city to be Yemen's capital, an aide said on Saturday. "Aden became the capital of Yemen as soon as the Huthis occupied Sanaa," the aide quoted Hadi as saying in reference to their takeover of Sanaa several months ago. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18549[/attach] GUWAHATI, India (AP) — The government of northeastern India's Nagaland state has suspended three officials and deployed paramilitary soldiers after a mob stormed a high-security jail, dragged away a man accused of rape and then lynched him, officials said Saturday. Continue reading...

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she plans to use her upcoming trip to Japan to discuss how Berlin and Tokyo can cooperate to expand the use of renewable energy. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18548[/attach] Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine claimed Saturday to have completed their withdrawal of heavy weapons, in line with a February ceasefire deal. "Today is the last day of the weapons withdrawal," Eduard Basurin, one of the rebel leaders told reporters in the town of Snizhne, where the separatists presented eight 120mm mortars removed from the frontline. "We have fully removed heavy weapons from the line of contact," Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, told the separatist news agency DAN. "Ukraine has not yet done it," Zakharchenko added, accusing government forces of failing to live up to their commitment to also remove artillery in order to create a buffer zone of between 50 and 140 kilometres (31 and 87 miles), depending on the range of the arms. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18547[/attach] Pope Francis is breaking decades of Vatican silence to help Italy shed light on one of its most notorious crimes, the 1970's murder of former premier Aldo Moro, the Corriere della Sera daily said Saturday. Francis has given permission for Archbishop Antonio Mennini to be interviewed by a parliamentary commission, 37 years after Moro was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades, a leftist Italian militant group. Mennini is reported to have heard Moro's final confession and served as a go-between between the militants and Pope Paul VI, who is believed to have attempted to buy the former prime minister's release. Francesco Cossiga, president of Italy from 1985 to 1992, confessed before he died that "Mennini managed to reach Aldo Moro in the Red Brigades' den and we did not find out about it," the Italian daily said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18546[/attach] AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Pakistan has found a new star in wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed after his stunning performance against South Africa in which he took a world-record equaling six catches and also appeared to be the team's most-dangerous batsman with a big-hitting 49. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18540[/attach] AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — A late collapse saw Pakistan bowled out for 222 in its rain-affected World Cup Pool B match against South Africa at Eden Park on Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18539[/attach] The growing legalization of cannabis in the United States is forcing Mexico's drug cartels to rethink their illicit business model, turning to opium poppy plantations and domestic pot consumption, experts say. The changes in the world's biggest drug market appear to have prompted the criminal organizations producing narcotics in Mexico to switch strategies. "As (US) domestic production increases, this will affect production in Mexico," Javier Oliva, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told AFP. Continue reading...

BEIJING (AP) — A popular documentary about China's environmental woes that has been viewed hundreds of millions of times over the past week was removed from Chinese websites as the country's legislature holds its closely watched annual meeting. Continue reading...

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the Monterrey Open semifinals Friday night, beating Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-2. Continue reading...

By David Stanway and Matthew Miller BEIJING (Reuters) - China could struggle to meet its 2020 nuclear energy targets with the industry still waiting on a cautious government to speed up the approval process, a senior industry executive said on Saturday. China planned to raise its total installed nuclear capacity to 58 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, up from 20 GW now, but despite ending a freeze on new approvals late in 2013, the state has not yet given any new projects the full go-ahead following a nationwide safety probe in the wake of Japan's Fukushima crisis. "The country's determination to develop the nuclear industry has not changed but the planning has slowed a little," said Sun. "The target won't change, but it will need hard work, especially these next two years." Sun said he hoped his firm would win approvals for six reactors this year, with new units at Fuqing in Fujian province and Sanmen in Zhejiang likely to start construction. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18531[/attach] A two-year peace deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo has done little to improve human rights, with armed groups and state security forces abusing civilians with impunity, a report said Friday. The report "Secure Insecurity", by Britain-based charity Oxfam, says that despite efforts by the Congolese authorities, "citizens continue to experience widespread exploitation". Continue reading...

By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. sanctions monitors said on Friday they are concerned that if a United Nations Security Council committee approves a request by Libya's government for weapons, tanks and jets, some of the equipment could be diverted to militias supporting them. The experts, who monitor violations of an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, said in a letter - obtained by Reuters - that arms could also end up in the hands of other militia after battles or if Libyan troops lose control of stockpiles. Libya's internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has operated out of the east since a rival armed faction called Libya Dawn took over Tripoli in fighting last year and set up its own administration. The rival governments and their allies are battling for control of Libya four years after a civil war ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18530[/attach] South Africa can wrap up a World Cup quarter-final place on Saturday with victory over Pakistan while Ireland can take a step closer to the last eight with a win over Zimbabwe. India's four-wicket win against the West Indies in Perth on Friday night kept the defending champions top of Pool B with eight points from four victories in four matches. The Proteas, who have never made a World Cup final let alone clinched the title, will have JP Duminy fit again after missing the last two games due to a side strain. South Africa are in prime form with skipper AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis all scoring hundreds in the last two games, helping their side to two successive totals of 400-plus. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18529[/attach] ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — A Paraguayan radio journalist has been shot to death in a Brazilian city bordering a crime-ridden area that is a hotbed for drugs and arms smuggling, officials said Friday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18528[/attach] Canada's failure to properly investigate widespread violence against aboriginal women and girls, including disappearances and murders, constitutes a "grave violation" of their rights, a UN watchdog said Friday. The Canadian police and justice systems have failed to effectively protect aboriginal women and girls from violence and to hold perpetrators accountable, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) concluded in a report. "Aboriginal women and girls are more likely to be victims of violence than men or non-aboriginal women, and they are more likely to die as a result," committee members Niklas Bruun and Barbara Bailey said in a statement. "Yet despite the seriousness of the situation, the Canadian state has not sufficiently implemented measures to ensure that cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women are effectively investigated and prosecuted," they said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18519[/attach] The acting United Nations humanitarian chief in Sudan urged the government and rebels in Darfur Friday to negotiate a political solution to the conflict, as troops press an offensive in the region. Darfur has been mired in conflict since 2003 when mostly black insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, complaining of their marginalisation. "It is now nearly 11 years that this has been going on and we still don't see an end in sight," said Geert Cappelaere, the head of UNICEF in Sudan and the acting UN humanitarian coordinator in the country. In November, the government launched a fresh offensive in Darfur, as well as in the southern Blue Nile and South Kordofan areas. Continue reading...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A former Puerto Rico police sergeant has been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty in the fatal beating case of a 19-year-old man. Continue reading...