WorldNews

[attach=full]20142[/attach] A Dutchman freed from captivity in Mali by French soldiers this week described his struggle to remain mentally and physically well during the three and a half years he spent sleeping outside in the desert as an Al Qaeda hostage. In his first statement since being freed on Monday, Sjaak Rijke said the years of captivity had been difficult although he had mostly been well treated by his captors. "The past years have been tough, both physically and mentally," he said in a statement issued via the Dutch foreign ministry on Thursday in which he asked for privacy as he and his family recovered from the ordeal. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20141[/attach] MILAN (AP) — A man on trial for fraudulent bankruptcy opened fire in Milan's courthouse Thursday in a "cold, premeditated" spree, killing his lawyer, a co-defendant and a judge before being captured nearly 25 kilometers away as he fled on a motorbike, officials said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20140[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks edged lower Thursday as investors assessed some mixed news on company earnings. Energy stocks rose as oil recouped some of its losses from a big sell-off on Wednesday. Continue reading...

An Egyptian court sentenced a former provincial governor to four years in jail, judicial sources said on Thursday, for violating a law used to jail hundreds of Islamist and secular activists in the last 18 months. Hassan El-Nagar, a former judge, was appointed governor of the Nile Delta province of Sharqiya in 2012 by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was ousted by the army in mid-2013 following protests. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20133[/attach] NEW DELHI (AP) — India's top court on Thursday granted an Italian marine's request to extend his medical leave in Italy before he and a fellow marine face charges over the 2012 shooting of two Indian fishermen. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20132[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — The last time the United States tried the military option on North Korea, more than a million died, a hostile and unexpectedly resilient adversary emerged and instead of regime change it got three generations of the Kim family. Understandably, there is little appetite in Washington to try that again. But if sending in the Marines is off the table, what's an administration to do? Continue reading...

[attach=full]20131[/attach] Kiev (AFP) - The Ukraine parliament on Thursday voted to ban all "propaganda by the totalitarian Communist and Nazi regimes". Continue reading...

GROZNY, Russia (AP) — A U.S. jury found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev guilty of the Boston Marathon bombing, and his own lawyer admitted it in court, but a relative said Thursday that she remains convinced that he and his now-dead elder brother had no reason to carry out such a terrorist attack. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20130[/attach] BEIRUT (AP) — A senior Palestinian official said Thursday that an agreement has been reached with the Syrian government to use military force to expel Islamic State militants from an embattled Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20121[/attach] Oil prices rose more than a percent on Thursday, clawing back part of the 6 percent slump in the previous session that was triggered by a shock jump in U.S. crude inventories and record Saudi output, although analysts said sentiment remained bearish. A 10.95 million-barrel surge in U.S. crude stockpiles to 482.4 million last week, the biggest gain in 14 years, and Saudi oil production of 10.3 million barrels a day in March had battered crude futures on Wednesday. "Total U.S. crude stocks continued to fly far above 5-year highs, setting new records every week," Societe Generale analysts said in a note. Cushing, the delivery point for West Texas Intermediate contracts, is now filled to 85 percent of its total working capacity of 70.1 million barrels, the bank said. Continue reading...

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's Cumhuriyet newspaper says two of its journalists have been charged with "openly insulting the people's religious values" for featuring French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's cover with the image of the Prophet Muhammad in their columns. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20120[/attach] SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has deported an American woman who frequently visited the country over the past 20 years, accusing her of engaging in "plot-breeding and propaganda." Continue reading...

[attach=full]20119[/attach] A man who recorded chilling video of a white police officer gunning down a black man said that the shooting followed a struggle in which the cop had gained control of the situation. The now widely-distributed video of South Carolina officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott repeatedly in the back was recorded by 23-year-old Feidin Santana. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20118[/attach] A Japanese research team said on Thursday it had developed a field test for Ebola that gives results in just over 11 minutes -- down from the 90-minute test used now. The breakthrough by Nagasaki University's Institute of Tropical Medicine will allow medics to move much more quickly in treating people with the haemorrhagic fever, Professor Jiro Yasuda told AFP. The test hinges on what the researchers have called a "primer", a substance that amplifies only those genes specific to the Ebola virus found in a blood sample or other bodily fluid. Currently, a method called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, is used to detect the Ebola virus. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20111[/attach] CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Eugenie Bouchard knew she was pointed to bigger things at the Family Circle Cup last spring. After the top-seeded Bouchard fell to unseeded American Lauren Davis in her opening match this time around, the Canadian star isn't sure where she's heading. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20110[/attach] CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat was in Venezuela on Wednesday for talks with President Nicolas Maduro ahead of a regional summit in which tensions between Caracas and Washington threatened to overshadow a thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations. Continue reading...

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge refused on Wednesday to throw out a U.S. jury's verdict finding that a large Jordan-based bank was responsible for terror attacks in Israel that killed or wounded Americans. Continue reading...

Schools and teachers were attacked, no girls were in secondary school and only 4 percent attended primary. In 1999 India had almost 17 million children out of school and around 8 girls for every 10 boys in school. The number of out-of-school children has fallen to just over a million, universal primary education has been achieved and this year India is predicted to be the only country in South and West Asia to have an equal number of girls and boys in both primary and secondary education. NEPAL: Nepal has achieved universal pre-primary and primary education, despite a relatively recent conflict in which schools were targets. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20109[/attach] SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — A former general linked to human rights abuses during El Salvador's civil war in the 1980s was deported by the U.S. on Wednesday and flown to his home country, where officials said he faces no charges or restrictions on his movements. Continue reading...

EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) — Military officials say 11 civilians and two soldiers have been killed in three attacks in Egypt's restive northern Sinai. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20106[/attach] AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Kevin Streelman beat Camilo Villegas on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff Wednesday to win the Par 3 tournament on the last day to relax at Augusta National. Continue reading...

A new poll conducted in Cuba found that 80 percent of Cubans have a highly favorable view of President Barack Obama, while 97 percent feel that the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United States will be good for Cuba. The opinion survey released Wednesday is the most extensive conducted inside Cuba by an independent research firm since 1959, according to its sponsors, Miami-based Spanish language network Univision News and The Washington Post newspaper. It is also the first study of its kind since last December's announcement of joint efforts to normalize diplomatic and economic relations between Cuba and the United States. Almost 80 percent were dissatisfied with the Cuban economy, and 64 percent said the thaw with Washington could change Cuba's economic system. Continue reading...

Canadian armed forces conducted their first air strike in Syria since the government expanded the scope of its military mission against Islamic State last month, Canada's Defense Department said on Wednesday. "This first air strike under the expanded mandate demonstrates our government's firm resolve to tackle the threat of terrorism against Canada and to promote international security and stability," Defense Minister Jason Kenney said in a statement. Two Canadian CF-18s were involved in the air strike against an Islamic State garrison near Ar-Raqqah, Syria, the government said. Continue reading...

Egypt's public prosecutor referred a further 379 alleged members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood to court on Wednesday over sit-ins in August 2013 that were broken up by security forces who killed hundreds of protesters. The 379 are accused of causing the deaths of two policemen at al-Nahda Square in Giza, one of two sites where supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi gathered in the weeks following his overthrow by the military. The government accuses the Brotherhood of fomenting an Islamist insurgency since Mursi's removal. Security forces have killed hundreds and detained thousands of members of the group, which says it is committed to political change through peaceful means only. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20095[/attach] Warring forces in the Central African Republic have agreed to a ceasefire deal after months of negotiations mediated by Kenya, Nairobi announced on Wednesday. The deal was signed between Joachim Kokate, a representative of the mainly Christian anti-balaka rebels, and ex-president Michel Djotodia of the predominantly Muslim ex-Seleka movement, the Kenyan presidency said in a statement. "There will be many who will try to bring divisions amongst you for their personal benefit," President Uhuru Kenyatta said in the statement. An earlier ceasefire deal in January had called for the replacement of CAR's interim government led by President Catherine Samba-Panza and was never recognised by Bangui. Continue reading...