WorldNews

[attach=full]20789[/attach] BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rafael Nadal's clay-court woes mounted on Thursday at the Barcelona Open with another loss. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20788[/attach] At least 23 Yemeni rebels were killed in fresh Saudi-led coalition air strikes Thursday on their positions in the southern town of Daleh, a government official there said. In Yemen's third city of Taez, meanwhile, a Red Cross official said his team retrieved the bodies of 10 pro-government soldiers thought to have died when rebels overran a loyalist base there on Wednesday. Speaking to AFP, the official said there were more bodies but that the Red Cross team was being denied access to the site by the Huthi Shiite rebels in the area. Several rebel positions in schools and public buildings were "razed" by air strikes in Daleh as well as in the nearby province of Lahj, said Nasser al-Shuaibi, a leader of armed groups loyal to Hadi. Continue reading...

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — The Macedonian Football Federation says it has appointed Ljubinko Drulovic of Serbia as the national coach. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20787[/attach] St. George's (Grenada) (AFP) - England's first century opening partnership for more than two years helped them to 143 for one in reply to the West Indies first innings total of 299 at lunch on the third day of the second Test on Thursday. Skipper Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott played carefully in extending their stand from the overnight total of 74 to 125 on the first sun-drenched morning of the match before leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo grabbed the wicket of Trott for 59. Cook will resume in the afternoon on 67 together with Gary Ballance (seven). In conditions ideal for batting at the National Cricket Stadium, the England top-order appeared more concerned with eliminating risks than dominating bowlers, especially the faster ones, who hardly posed any serious threat on a placid pitch. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and coalition forces conducted 16 air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and five in Syria since Wednesday, the American military said. The strikes in Iraq targeted Islamic State tactical units, buildings, sniper positions and vehicles around seven cities including Falluja, Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar, the Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement on Thursday. The strikes in Syria were near Kobani and al Hasaka, it said. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Susan Heavey) Continue reading...

[attach=full]20785[/attach] Paula Radcliffe said a conversation with her eight-year-old daughter convinced her she was doing the right thing in bowing out of the London Marathon. Radcliffe, recalling a conversation with her daughter, Isla, said: "I will always go out for runs and things, I just won't be preparing to be competitive in races and really putting everything into going away on training camps and things like that. Radcliffe, who has recently been troubled by foot and Achilles injuries, said she was looking forward to going round the London course one last time. "The London marathon inspired me into running," Radcliffe said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20784[/attach] PARIS (AP) — With its European aspirations in tatters after two losses to Barcelona in the Champions League quarterfinals, Paris Saint-Germain will now focus on finishing ahead of Lyon in the close-fought French title race. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20783[/attach] A century ago, thousands of soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) struggled ashore on a narrow beach at Gallipoli at the start of an ill-fated campaign that would claim more than 130,000 lives. The centenary is expected to see the largest ever commemoration, with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Britain's Prince Charles leading the ceremonies. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20782[/attach] MILAN (AP) — Juventus has a couple of canine solutions to keep Luis Suarez and his biting at bay if it draws Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals. Continue reading...

By Chris Scicluna VALETTA (Reuters) - An imam and a bishop led a poignant inter-faith funeral service on Malta on Thursday for 24 drowned migrants, the only victims whose bodies were recovered from the Mediterranean in the weekend shipwreck that shocked Europe. The dead were picked up by the Italian vessel Gregoretti and brought to Malta on Monday after their vessel capsized and sank early on Sunday morning. Twenty-eight survivors were taken to Italy. The captain has been arrested in Italy on suspicion of homicide, people smuggling and causing a shipwreck. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20773[/attach] A 14-year-old Mexican girl grabbed by police at school and sent to the United States in a case of mistaken identity was reunited with her parents Wednesday, a happy ending to a saga that captivated the country. A video of the April 16 operation shows Alondra Luna Nunez screaming as officers shove her inside a police vehicle in the central state of Guanajuato before flying her to a woman in Texas who thought she was her daughter. Her parents did not rule out taking legal action against the officials and judge who ordered police to take Luna and fly her to Texas. Luna seemed to hold no grudge, saying she hoped the Texas woman, Dorotea Garcia, ended up finding her daughter. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20772[/attach] Kenya's top anti-corruption officials were suspended Thursday following a bitter stand-off with parliament and after they alleged widespread graft in the east African nation. President Uhuru Kenyatta removed the chairman and deputy chairwoman of Kenya's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) after MPs voted to sanction the pair, accusing them of incompetence and abuse of office. A total of 175 people were named in the EACC report, including five cabinet ministers, 13 governors and a host of civil servants, MPs and members of the judiciary. President Kenyatta had also ordered those named in the report to step aside while they are under investigation. Continue reading...

Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck Houthi targets in and around the Yemeni cities of Aden and Ibb early on Thursday, residents in the area said, after Riyadh indicated its campaign against the Iran-allied movement would be wound down. On Tuesday, the coalition announced an end to its month-old bombing campaign in Yemen but strikes have continued. A Saudi spokesman later said forces would continue to target the Iran-allied Houthi movement as necessary. In Ibb in central Yemen, residents reported an intense series of strikes early on Thursday on Houthi positions and weapon warehouses in the region. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20771[/attach] KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) — At the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile near Sudan's capital, Khartoum, 35-year-old Younis Hamad al-Nil sails his wooden boat from sunrise to sunset, searching the wide waters for today's catch. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20770[/attach] A Libyan television journalist involved in coverage of fighting between Islamist militias and pro-government forces in the second city of Benghazi has been assassinated, officials and witnesses said Thursday. Muftah al-Qatrani, director of the private production company Al-Anwar, was killed by a gunshot to the head on Wednesday, an interior ministry official told AFP. A witness, who declined to be named, said the producer's office was in the centre of Benghazi. Libya's descent into chaos since its 2011 uprising has seen the formation of rival parliaments and governments, and allowed the Islamic State extremist group to gain a foothold in the oil-rich North African state. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20762[/attach] GUANAJUATO, Mexico (AP) — A 14-year-old Mexican girl who was taken by authorities and sent screaming to live in the United States was returned home Wednesday after DNA tests showed she is not the daughter of the Houston woman who claimed her. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20761[/attach] A former senior Chinese official and an ally of retired security boss Zhou Yongkang stood trial on Thursday on charges of bribery and abuse of power in central China, the latest in a string of top officials connected to Zhou caught in an anti-graft campaign. The trial began at the Municipal Intermediate People's Court in Xianning City in the central province of Hubei, the court said on its official microblog account. President Xi Jinping's two-year graft crackdown has taken down at least a dozen former associates and protégées of Zhou, the once-powerful domestic security chief and member of the elite Politburo Standing Committee and the most senior person to have been charged with corruption. Li Chuncheng, former deputy party boss of southwestern Sichuan province, was charged last year with bribery and abuse of power. Continue reading...

By Matt Siegel SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian Islamic community center linked to five men arrested for planning an attack at a World War One centenary event said on Thursday that it was closing immediately, citing harassment. Victorian state Premier Daniel Andrews said the men were "associates" of Abdul Numan Haider, an Islamic State sympathizer who was shot dead last year after he stabbed police officers, and who was known to have attended the Al-Furqan Islamic Centre in Melbourne. The run-up to this year's centenary of the landings at Gallipoli - a major holiday in Australia and New Zealand - has been has been marred by concerns that radicals may target the celebrations for a high-profile attack. The Australian newspaper reported that the most senior Australian recruiter for the Islamic State in Syria, Neil Prakash, was also a former member of Al-Furqan. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20760[/attach] Chinese nuclear experts believe North Korea may already have a nuclear arsenal of 20 warheads and the uranium enrichment capacity to double that figure by next year, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The estimate, which the Journal said was relayed to US nuclear specialists in a closed-door meeting in February, is significantly higher than any previously known Chinese assessment. It also exceeds recent estimates by US experts which put the North's current arsenal at between 10 and 16 nuclear weapons. A leading expert on North Korea's nuclear programme, Siegfried Hecker, who attended the February meeting, said a sizeable North Korean stockpile would only compound the challenge the international community faces in persuading Pyongyang to denuclearise. Continue reading...

MOFFETT FIELD, California (AP) — Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Wednesday he is concerned that Iranian ships heading toward Yemen may be carrying advanced weapons for the Houthi rebels, and moving a U.S. aircraft carrier to the region gives the president options. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20758[/attach] New Zealand Rugby chiefs said Thursday they had no plans to emulate Australia and relax eligibility rules so overseas-based players can represent the All Blacks. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) announced the move on Wednesday in response to a host of top players taking up lucrative club contracts after this year's September-October World Cup in England. Defending world champions New Zealand face a similar post-tournament exodus, with at least 10 All Blacks heading offshore, including Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Colin Slade. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20757[/attach] St. George's (Grenada) (AFP) - Alastair Cook closed in on becoming England's highest Test run-maker on Wednesday as his team began their pursuit of West Indies' 299 all out on the second day of the second Test. England skipper Cook and fellow opener Jonathan Trott negotiated 26 overs without real alarm as the visitors reached 74 without loss at the National Cricket Stadium. Cook achieved a milestone during his unbeaten 37, going past former player Alec Stewart as his countryâ s second-highest run-getter in Test history with a tally of 8,484. Only Graham Gooch, the former opening batsman and captain, remains ahead of him in the list of prolific English batsmen with an aggregate of 8,900. Continue reading...

HAVANA (AP) — The NBA is the first U.S. professional league to visit sports-crazy Cuba since the declaration of detente between the Cold War enemies late last year. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20756[/attach] Turkey on Wednesday stopped Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik's plane from flying over its territory, preventing him from attending a ceremony to mark the centenary of the Armenian genocide, his cabinet said. The plane carrying the president of Republika Srpska, a Serb-run entity of Bosnia, returned to his capital Banja Luka after spending four and a half hours at an airport in eastern Bulgaria, waiting in vain for authorisation to fly over Turkish territory, the statement said. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to the towering genocide memorial in Armenia's capital Yerevan on Friday to mark the start of a tragedy that still stirs deep divisions. Ex-Soviet Armenia and the huge Armenian diaspora worldwide have battled for decades to get the World War I massacres at the hands of Ottoman forces between 1915 and 1917 recognised as a targeted genocide. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20755[/attach] AVONDALE, La. (AP) — Marc Leishman fully expects to be rusty this week in the Zurich Classic, not that he's all that concerned. Continue reading...