WorldNews

[attach=full]20252[/attach] By Mohammed Mukhashaf ADEN (Reuters) - Local militiamen in the Yemeni city of Aden said they captured two Iranian military officers advising Houthi rebels during fighting on Friday evening. Tehran has denied providing military support for Houthi fighters, whose advances have drawn air strikes by a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia, the Islamic Republic's main rival for influence in the Gulf. If confirmed, the presence of two Iranian officers, who the local militiamen said were from an elite unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, would further worsen relations between Tehran and Riyadh who are vying for dominance in the region. A Houthi mortar shell fired into Saudi territory on Friday killed three officers and injured two others, a statement from the kingdom's Defence Ministry carried by state media said on Saturday, bringing Saudi casualties in the conflict to six. Continue reading...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Highlanders came from behind with a three-try burst to beat the Crusaders 25-20 and push the seven-time champions out of the playoff places in Super Rugby on Saturday. Continue reading...

By Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey sent extra troops, reconnaissance planes and armed helicopters into its eastern Agri province on Saturday after four soldiers were wounded in a clash with Kurdish insurgents, the military said. The government said militants from the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) were trying to destabilize the country before a parliamentary election in June. "We have sent reconnaissance planes, armed helicopters and additional ground troops to the region and the clash is still ongoing." No one from the PKK was immediately available for comment. Ankara and the PKK agreed to a ceasefire two years ago, as part of negotiations to end a three-decade insurgency that has killed 40,000 people. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20247[/attach] Compiègne (France) (AFP) - Geraint Thomas said he was a marked man at last week's Tour of Flanders but hopes the attention on Bradley Wiggins at Sunday's Paris-Roubaix will help him. Kristoff, though, admits that Roubaix is not ideally suited to his abilities. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20246[/attach] MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay (AP) — Uruguay's president says the U.N. refugee agency will help six former Guantanamo prisoners obtain housing in his country. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20245[/attach] JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of Christians have gathered in Jerusalem for an ancient fire ceremony that celebrates Jesus' resurrection. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20244[/attach] Kenya has given the United Nations three months to remove a camp housing more than half a million Somali refugees, as part of a get-tough response to the killing of 148 people by Somali gunmen at a Kenyan university. Kenya has in the past accused Islamist militants of hiding out in Dadaab camp which it now wants the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR to move across the border to inside Somalia. “We have asked the UNHCR to relocate the refugees in three months, failure to which we shall relocate them ourselves," Deputy President William Ruto said in a statement. “The way America changed after 9/11 is the way Kenya will change after Garissa,” he said, referring to the university that was attacked on April 2. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20242[/attach] SHANGHAI (AP) — If Mercedes was concerned about the progress of chief rival Ferrari this Formula One season, its drivers didn't show it during qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20241[/attach] Two Somali nationals suffered serious burns when their shop in a South African township was set alight by a mob, police said Saturday, as violence against foreign immigrants spread. The men were in the shop in Umlazi, south of Durban, when it was petrol bombed on Friday night. "The two Somali men suffered severe burn wounds and are being treated in hospital," police spokesman Thulani Zwane said. Zwane said three people including one foreigner had been killed so far -- two on April 5 and a third on Friday -- in violence between residents and foreign nationals that has been raging for the past two weeks in townships south of Durban. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20240[/attach] KOLKATA, India (AP) — Police were searching Saturday for the driver of an overcrowded bus that skidded into a ditch in eastern India, killing 13 passengers, including two children, and injuring 43. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20239[/attach] BANGKOK (AP) — A car bomb explosion that slightly injured seven people on the popular resort island of Samui in southern Thailand may be linked to the country's political turmoil, a spokesman for the military government said Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20238[/attach] Hours after shaking hands, US President Barack Obama and Cuban leader Raul Castro head into historic talks in Panama on Saturday in their efforts to bury decades of animosity. Taking their bid to restore diplomatic ties to a new level, Obama and Castro will have a discussion on the sidelines of the Summit of the Americas in Panama City, according to US officials. The two leaders already said hello late Friday, greeting each other and shaking hands -- a gesture rich in symbolism -- as UN chief Ban Ki-moon and other leaders looked on, before the 35-nation summit's inauguration. They shook hands only once before, at Nelson Mandela's memorial service in 2013. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20235[/attach] Kevin Anderson survived a five-hour rain delay to clinch a berth in the semi-finals of the US Clay Court Championships with a grueling 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3) win over Jeremy Chardy. "They were incredibly tough conditions," Anderson said. Anderson now seeks to reach the 10th ATP Tour final of his career and his second this season when he faces world number 46 Jack Sock, of the US, in the semis. It is the third time he has reached the semi-finals at an ATP event with each coming on a different surface, comprising the hardcourts in Atlanta, grass in Newport and now clay courts in Houston. Continue reading...

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen in restive southwestern Pakistan shot and killed at least 20 workers early Saturday at a dam construction site, the deadliest recent attack targeting civilians in a region facing a low-level insurgency, authorities said. Continue reading...

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — American Gwen Jorgensen's amazing streak continued Saturday when she won the ITU World Triathlon Series event on the Gold Coast for her eighth consecutive victory in the elite series. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20234[/attach] Across the Middle East, fierce rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran is heightening sectarian tensions, even in conflicts that analysts say are primarily political. Riyadh and Tehran adhere to different branches of Islam and have often backed members of their own sect in regional conflicts. Saudi officials have cast their intervention in Yemen, against rebels who adhere to a branch of Shiite Islam, as a fight of "good versus evil". Iran meanwhile this week accused Riyadh of committing "genocide" with its military operation. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20233[/attach] Gunmen have killed 20 construction workers in Pakistan's restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, shooting them at point blank range after identifying where they were from, officials said Saturday. "Armed gunmen stormed the camp of labourers in Gokh Don area of Baluchistan late Friday night and killed 20 labourers," senior police official Tariq Khilji told AFP. He said those killed were all from outside the province -- 16 of them from Punjab and four from Sindh province. The incident, which occurred around 1,050 kilometres (650 miles) southwest of Quetta, was confirmed by Akbar Hussain Durrani, a senior administration official in the province. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20227[/attach] Louis van Gaal's increasingly confident Manchester United will look to twist the knife in Manchester City's side when the derby rivals clash in Sunday's Premier League showdown at Old Trafford. A run of five consecutive victories has taken United above City for the first time this season and another success this weekend would blacken yet further the storm clouds gathering over the Etihad Stadium. City's 2-1 loss at Crystal Palace on Monday left them nine points behind leaders Chelsea having played a game more, effectively ending their title defence, and they now face a battle to secure a Champions League place. Fourth in the table, Manuel Pellegrini's team enjoy a seven-point lead over fifth-place Liverpool, but both Arsenal and United have stolen a march on them in the race for automatic Champions League qualification and defeat on Sunday would leave them vulnerable to attack from below. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry is calling for the immediate and unconditional release of five Chinese activists detained before International Women's Day in March. Continue reading...

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — A brief look at the second round Friday of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20226[/attach] 2:22 p.m. EDT. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20225[/attach] AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Farewell, Gentle Ben. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20221[/attach] PANAMA CITY (AP) — Nicolas Maduro had barely gotten off his plane at the Summit of the Americas on Friday before he gave a symbolic poke in the eye to Washington, paying a visit to a monument honoring victims of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20220[/attach] By Mark Hosenball, Phil Stewart and Warren Strobel WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is expanding its intelligence-sharing with Saudi Arabia to provide more information about potential targets in the kingdom's air campaign against Houthi militias in Yemen, U.S. officials told Reuters. The U.S. officials said the expanded assistance includes sensitive intelligence data that will allow the Saudis to better review the kingdom's targets in fighting that has killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands since March. "We have opened up the aperture a bit wider with what we are sharing with our Saudi partners," said one U.S. official. U.S. ally Saudi Arabia is concerned that the violence could spill over the border it shares with Yemen, and is also worried about the influence of Shi'ite Iran, which has denied Saudi allegations it has provided direct military support to the Houthis. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20219[/attach] UN chief Ban Ki-moon called Friday for a new push to resolve the conflict over Western Sahara and stressed that cooperation to address human rights could help find a settlement. In a report to the Security Council, Ban said Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario Front must "seriously engage" with his envoy and "intensify their efforts" to end the conflict over the north African territory. Continue reading...