WorldNews

[attach=full]20434[/attach] Environmentalists seeking to curb the deaths of an estimated 53,000 sea turtles each year from getting caught in commercial shrimp nets off the southeastern United States sued federal regulators on Wednesday for stronger protections. Oceana, an ocean conservation group, is suing the National Marine Fisheries Service to force the agency to enact closer monitoring of and stricter limits on the number of turtles that can be caught and killed by the Gulf of Mexico and southeast Atlantic shrimping industry. "If people knew that their order of shrimp cocktail came with a side of government-authorized sea turtle, they would be horrified," Oceana lawyer Eric Bilsky said in a statement. The fisheries service has estimated that 500,000 loggerhead, green, leatherback, hawksbill and Kemp's ridley sea turtles, all listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act, are injured in some way each year by shrimp fishing gear, according to the lawsuit. Continue reading...

MOSCOW (AP) — A former ally of deposed Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has been found shot to death in his home in Kiev. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20433[/attach] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tasked three weeks ago with forming Israel's next government, fell short Wednesday of striking a coalition with rightwing partners after reports emerged of talks with a centre-left party. Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party won Israel's March 17 election but without a majority, and President Reuven Rivlin gave him until April 22 to form a coalition, as stipulated by the law. Public television reported on Monday that Netanyahu and Isaac Herzog, who heads the Zionist Union and was Netanyahu's main challenger in the vote, had met secretly to discuss the possibility of a national unity government. Herzog has not explicitly ruled out a unity government but said his party would form part of the opposition. Continue reading...

By Krishna N. Das NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Fewer power cuts are likely in India this summer after a surge in output at Coal India helped generators amass record stocks, a turnaround for Narendra Modi who had to battle a power crisis within months of becoming prime minister last May. Fast-track mine approvals, tighter production oversight and more flexibility in coal sales have helped power station stocks recover from a six-year low hit in October, vindicating Modi's pitch to voters as the state leader who brought round-the-clock power to industrial Gujarat. As Modi prepares to mark his first year in office and seeks to fulfill a poll promise to provide power to all of India's 1.2 billion people by 2019, power stations hold 28 million tonnes of coal, a 38 percent jump from a year ago, government data shows. "The situation is improving," said K. Raja Gopal, head of the thermal power business at construction, power and real estate conglomerate Lanco Infratech, pointing to recent growth in Coal India output. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20432[/attach] At least five people were beheaded in a machete attack in an eastern area of the Democratic Republic of Congo that has seen frequent massacres perpetrated by Islamist Ugandan rebels, an official said. "Five civilians were killed by machete in the Mbau area," said Amisi Kalonda, the area administrator of the town of Beni. He blamed the attack on Ugandan Islamist rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a militia that is believed to have killed more than 260 people in the final three months of last year, mostly with knives and machetes. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20427[/attach] CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's powerful but normally low-profile first lady is about to launch her own weekly television program. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20426[/attach] PRAGUE (AP) — A Czech general in line for a senior NATO post says the western military alliance was wrong-footed by Moscow's moves in Ukraine and now has to reassure the public it has the means and will to confront Russia. Continue reading...

By Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - At least five merchant vessels carrying food are stuck off Yemen, shipping data showed on Wednesday, as warships from a Saudi-led coalition search them for weapons bound for Iran-allied Houthi rebel forces, with delays adding to a humanitarian crisis. Yemen imports more than 90 percent of its food, including most of its wheat and all its rice, to feed a population of 25 million. Ship tracking data showed at least five cargo ships were anchored off Yemen unable to enter Yemeni waters. "Disruption of navigation in Yemen’s territorial waters will adversely affect food security," U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA said. Continue reading...

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Islamic State extremist group launched an offensive Wednesday in Iraq's western Anbar province, capturing three villages near the provincial capital of Ramadi in what was the most significant threat to the city by the Sunni militants to date. Continue reading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. special representative on sexual violence said Wednesday she is making her first trip to the Middle East where extremist groups are increasingly using rape and sexual attacks as a "tactic of terror." Continue reading...

[attach=full]20423[/attach] Dutch and international investigators will renew their search for body parts and debris at the MH17 plane crash site in restive eastern Ukraine, including at a location previously considered unsafe, the team's chief announced Wednesday. "The team is in Donetsk and ready to start tomorrow (Thursday)," Pieter Jaap Aalbersberg said at a press conference in The Hague. "Our goal is to do everything in our power to bring back human remains, personal belongings and parts of the wreckage to the Netherlands," Aalbersberg said, speaking at the Dutch Justice Ministry. All 298 passengers and crew onboard the Malaysia Airlines jetliner -- the majority of them Dutch -- died when it was shot down over war-torn eastern Ukraine last year. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20422[/attach] HELSINKI (AP) — Nokia is to buy ailing French telecom company Alcatel-Lucent for around 15.6 billion euros ($16.5 billion) through a public exchange of shares in France and the United States, in a bid that will see the newly created company become a leading global networks operator. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20421[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — In some versions of an April 14 story about financial markets, The Associated Press erroneously reported that IBM plans to release its first-quarter financial results on Friday, April 17. It plans to announce results on Monday, April 20. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20420[/attach] A Cairo criminal court jailed deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's former chief of staff for three years Wednesday after he was convicted of abusing his powers, an official said. Refaa al-Tahtawi had been charged with hiring someone banned from public service, the court official said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20419[/attach] MILAN (AP) — The U.N. refugee agency says the shipwreck in the Mediterranean this week, in which 400 migrants are presumed to have died, is among the deadliest single incidents in the last decade. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20413[/attach] Saudi Arabia and Egypt are considering holding "large-scale" military manoeuvres after launching air strikes on Yemeni rebels who have been slapped with a UN arms embargo and sanctions. In a possible sign the Saudi-led air campaign against the Shiite rebels may expand into a ground operation, Cairo said it and Riyadh were mulling the exercises in Saudi Arabia, with other Gulf countries participating. Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab countries launched the air strikes on March 26, after the Iran-backed rebels seized the capital Sanaa last year and advanced on the main southern city of Aden, where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had taken refuge. Saudi Arabia has accused Tehran -- the main Shiite power -- of arming the rebels and the conflict has heightened tensions in the Middle East. Continue reading...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has dismissed pressure from the U.S. Congress over a preliminary deal on Iran's nuclear program, saying that Tehran is dealing with world powers — not American lawmakers. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20412[/attach] Cairo (AFP) - Two Egyptian military cadets were killed in a bombing north of Cairo on Wednesday as they waited to board a bus, police officials said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20411[/attach] ELDORET, Kenya (AP) — Leading Kenyan athletes have criticized the national federation for suspending their agents in a doping investigation, saying it has hurt their preparations for the world championships and other major competitions this season. Continue reading...

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency says more than 5,800 Burundians have crossed into Rwanda since the end of last month amid fears of violence ahead of elections later this year. Continue reading...

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis' finance minister is on the move, literally. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20407[/attach] Nigeria and the world marked the first anniversary of Boko Haram's abduction of 219 schoolgirls with protest marches, candlelit vigils and pledges of solidarity. Campaigners also used the focus on Tuesday's anniversary to highlight the situation in the girls' hometown should they be released, cataloguing the devastation wreaked by six years of conflict. Muhammadu Buhari, who defeated President Goodluck Jonathan in elections two weeks ago, said there was a need for "honesty", with nothing seen or heard from the students since last May. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20406[/attach] President Nicolas Maduro said he had launched a probe into reports of Panama-based Venezuelans who may have illegally obtained wealth. Maduro, whose socialist government is in economic crisis amid historically low oil prices, said on Tuesday, on his television show "In Touch with Maduro" that he suspects many may have settled in Panama with laundered money or breaking his rules aimed at stemming currency flight. "I have formed a special committee to investigate money laundering and currency flight (of US dollars), given the Panama situation," said Maduro, who attended a regional summit in Panama City over the weekend. He said many people approached him during his visit to the nearby Central American nation and said Panama was full of Venezuelan expats living the high life. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20405[/attach] HAVANA (AP) — Cuban officials and ordinary citizens alike hailed the island's removal from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, saying the move by President Barack Obama heals a decades-old insult to national pride and clears the way to swiftly restore diplomatic relations. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20404[/attach] SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Park Geun-hye faced charges Wednesday that members of her administration received bribes from a businessman found dead in an apparent suicide last week. Continue reading...