WorldNews

[attach=full]20001[/attach] Fierce clashes raged between rebels and loyalists in southern Yemen, leaving more than 140 dead in 24 hours, as the Red Cross faced delays to urgently needed aid deliveries. The bloodiest fighting occurred between rebels and loyalists of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in the main southern city of Aden, officials said. At least 19 Huthis and 15 pro-Hadi militiamen were killed overnight in the town of Daleh, north of Aden, officials said, and seven other people died in the southern province of Abyan. Pro-Hadi fighters have laid siege in Abyan to the base of a renegade army brigade loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is accused of backing the Huthis. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20000[/attach] HONG KONG (AP) — For Asia's aviation industry, the growing pains have just begun. Continue reading...

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) — Volkswagen is seeking to add to a planned expansion announced last year to produce a new sport utility vehicle in Tennessee. Continue reading...

The City of Vancouver, Washington, on Friday said it will conduct a thorough environmental review of NuStar Energy LP’s proposal to convert a bulk terminal into a facility capable of receiving crude oil by rail. A full environmental impact statement will examine the risk of train accidents, oil spills and air pollution associated with the project, which would allow the San Antonio-based company to receive up to 22,000 barrels of oil a day at the facility. “Allowing an oil terminal to move forward in Vancouver would have serious impacts for the health and safety of those living near the proposed terminal site, along the rail line, and the Columbia River,” the Stand Up to Oil Coalition said in a statement on Monday. “The risk of a train derailment and explosion, as well as the concerns of an oil spill on the river, should receive thorough scrutiny so that the city can make an informed decision.” The announcement comes as environmentalists in the region are attempting to thwart another, much larger crude-by-rail project proposed by Tesoro Corp and Savage Companies that would be capable of receiving 280,000 barrels per day of crude at the Port of Vancouver. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19996[/attach] Garissa (Kenya) (AFP) - Scattered books and dark blood stains on the floor: the bodies have been collected but an abbatoir-like stench permeates the Kenyan university where Islamist gunmen massacred 148 people last week. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19995[/attach] Republican US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell on Monday criticized the landmark deal on Iran's nuclear program, confirming that lawmakers opposed to the pact planned a formal response to the agreement. "The administration needs to explain to the Congress and the American people why an interim agreement should result in reduced pressure on the world's leading state sponsor of terror," McConnell said in a statement following last week's marathon talks. McConnell repeated his pledge to examine legislation proposed by Senators Bob Corker and Bob Menendez, which requires any deal on Iran's nuclear ambitions to be reviewed by Congress. The Corker-Menendez bill would oblige President Barack Obama to give lawmakers 60 days to examine, and possibly block, a nuclear deal. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it would be "a fundamental misjudgment" to condition a nuclear deal with Iran on the country changing its hostile stance toward Israel. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19994[/attach] Manchester City's Premier League title defence is in tatters after a surprise 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace left the champions nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea on Monday. Manuel Pellegrini's side were rocked as Glenn Murray's first half goal and Jason Puncheon's excellent free kick immediately after the restart gave Palace the cushion they needed to withstand late pressure after Yaya Toure had given City hope with a 78th minute strike. City's third successive away league defeat, their fifth loss in their last seven games in all competitions, leaves them languishing in fourth place with Chelsea also having a game in hand on them. Their predicament was simply summed up by Pellegrini before this game when City's manager admitted his side needed a perfect end to the season and a Chelsea stumble to regain pole position. Continue reading...

BOSTON (AP) — Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev targeted men, women and children at the marathon because he wanted to terrorize the United States on a day when the eyes of the world would be on Boston, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday in closing arguments. Continue reading...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ricky Rubio's NBA season is over. His summer with the Spanish national team remains a question mark. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19986[/attach] NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan warplanes bombed militant camps in Somalia, officials said Monday, following a vow by President Uhuru Kenyatta to respond "in the fiercest way possible" to a massacre of college students by al-Shabab extremists. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19985[/attach] BERLIN (AP) — Lufthansa indicated Monday that it was under no obligation to report to Germany's national aviation authority the fact that Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had suffered from depression before qualifying as a pilot several years ago. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19984[/attach] French special forces on Monday freed a Dutch hostage who had been held by Al-Qaeda-linked extremists in Mali for more than three years, after staging a dramatic desert raid that culminated in a gunbattle with his captors. "This combat action has also led to the capture of several individuals," added the ministry, referring to the raid against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). French President Francois Hollande said the freed hostage had been transported to a safe location and that a number of suspected jihadists were killed during the operation. He said the French soldiers were not aware of the hostage's location before the raid against the extremists near Tessalit in Mali's far north, close to the border with Algeria. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19983[/attach] PRAGUE (AP) — Czech President Milos Zeman and the U.S. ambassador are in a rare public dispute over Zeman's decision to attend a Russian military parade, and the country's prime minister and Czech lawmakers are siding with the American. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19976[/attach] By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) - A former ally of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper goes on trial for fraud and bribery on Tuesday in a case that could damage the governing Conservatives' chances of winning October's general election. Mike Duffy, a former television reporter who became a popular fund-raiser for the Conservatives, faces 31 criminal charges related to activities after Harper appointed him to the Senate, the upper chamber of Parliament. The trial could present an acute challenge for the right-leaning Conservatives, who came to power in early 2006 promising more government accountability. The party that talked about cleaning up politics looked less than transparent when it emerged in May 2013 that Harper chief of staff Nigel Wright had given Duffy a C$90,000 ($72,000) check to cover living expenses the senator had claimed improperly. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19975[/attach] With Obama heading toward a potentially historic meeting with Cuban President Raul Castro this week, Trade and Foreign Investment Minister Rodrigo Malmierca criticized the US leader's limited steps to ease the crippling trade and financial embargo the United States has maintained on Cuba since 1962. After the old Cold War foes announced a historic rapprochement on December 17, Obama loosened several components of the embargo, allowing more travel from the United States to Cuba, raising the limit on cash remittances to the island and easing restrictions on certain kinds of trade, among other measures. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19974[/attach] Saudi Arabia has asked Pakistan to contribute aircraft, ships and ground troops to its coalition fighting rebels in Yemen, the Pakistani defence minister said Monday. Khawaja Asif spoke at the start of a special parliamentary debate on whether to join the Saudi-led military intervention against Shiite Huthi rebels trying to overthrow President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due to visit Islamabad on Wednesday to discuss the situation, Asif said. Shiite Iran has strongly criticised the intervention in Yemen by the coalition of largely Sunni Muslim nations, accusing Saudi Arabia of sowing instability with its air campaign. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19973[/attach] Jordan has evacuated almost 300 nationals from conflict-hit Yemen, where it has joined a Saudi-led coalition waging air raids on Shiite rebels, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. Spokesman Sabah al-Rafei said 130 Jordanians returned home from Yemen on Monday, travelling overland from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, bringing the total number of evacuees to 287. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19972[/attach] NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — He was a soccer player with a fighting spirit, a talented keyboard player with "golden fingers" who was intent on succeeding in life, his guardian said. But Bryson Mwakuleghwa, a 21-year-old student at Garissa University College in Kenya, never had the chance to make his dreams happen. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19962[/attach] TRAUNSTEIN, Germany (AP) — Hundreds of riders in a Bavarian town have braved heavy snow for a traditional Easter Monday procession, taking their horses to a local church to receive blessings. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19961[/attach] KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's police chief said Monday that 17 suspected militants have been detained for allegedly plotting to carry out terrorist acts in the country's largest city, Kuala Lumpur. Continue reading...

China has temporarily closed its embassy and consulate general in Yemen because of worsening security there, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday. Two Chinese navy ships have evacuated 613 Chinese citizens and 279 foreigners from the county, the ministry also said, marking the first time that China's military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis. "Due to worsening security situations in Yemen, China temporarily closed its embassy and also the consulate general in Aden," the ministry said. Violence has been spreading across Yemen since last year, when Iran-backed Shi'ite Houthi fighters seized the capital, Sanaa, and effectively removed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19960[/attach] Saudi Arabia's cabinet said on Monday it welcomed an interim deal between Iran and world powers over Iran's disputed nuclear program and that it hoped a final deal would rid the region of weapons of mass destruction. Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia -- reached a framework agreement on Thursday that would curb Tehran's nuclear research for at least a decade and gradually lift Western sanctions. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19959[/attach] VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Monday again pressed the international community to do something about the killing of Christians in several parts of the world and not "look the other way." Continue reading...

The Kenyan air force bombed two al Shabaab camps in Somalia on Sunday, a Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) source said, in the first major military response to last week's attack by the militant group on a Kenyan university. Gunmen from the al Qaeda-aligned group killed 148 people on Thursday when they stormed the Garissa University College campus, some 200 km (120 miles) from the Somali border. Jets pounded the camps in Gondodowe and Ismail, both in the Gedo region bordering Kenya, the military source said on Monday. "We targeted the two areas because according to information we have, those (al Shabaab) fellows are coming from there to attack Kenya," he said. Continue reading...