WorldNews

[attach=full]20381[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — eDefense lawyers are vowing to appeal the convictions of four former Blackwater security guards after a U.S. judge handed down lengthy prison terms for their roles in a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20380[/attach] Three Russian ships including a destroyer have entered the English Channel and are being monitored by the Royal Navy as they pass through, the Ministry of Defence said Tuesday. It is the latest in a string of similar incidents and comes at a time of tense relations between London and Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine and the inquiry into the death of Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. "MoD can confirm 3 Russian ships being monitored by @RoyalNavy HMS Argyll through Channel. The Channel is used frequently and legitimately as a route by Russian warships but NATO countries are on alert over fears that Moscow could attempt to destabilise countries on Europe's eastern flank that were in its orbit during Soviet times. Continue reading...

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LONDON (AP) — Quotes from voters in this week's Associated Press Global Football 10: Continue reading...

[attach=full]20379[/attach] THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Court of Justice has opened public hearings in two longstanding border disputes between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Continue reading...

Russian navy vessels entered the English Channel on Tuesday on their way to the northern Atlantic for anti-aircraft and anti-submarine defense drills, the Northern Fleet said. The squadron, led by the Severomorsk anti-submarine ship, had carried out drills in the Bay of Biscay and will later head for the northeastern Atlantic, a spokesman for the Northern Fleet said in a statement. Russia's Interfax news agency had reported that the squadron would hold drills in the English Channel but the fleet's statement did not confirm this. It is not unusual to have Russian warships in the Channel. Continue reading...

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's state news agency says gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead a policeman manning a checkpoint just outside Cairo. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20373[/attach] Manchester City women's player Toni Duggan has issued an apology after being photographed with Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal following his side's victory in the Manchester derby. England international Duggan, 23, posted a picture on Instagram of herself alongside Van Gaal at a restaurant shortly after United's 4-2 defeat of City in the Premier League on Sunday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20372[/attach] A senior Iranian official said Tuesday that Russia could deliver sophisticated missile systems to Tehran this year after Moscow lifted a ban on supplying the weapons. "I think that they will be delivered this year," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies ahead of a meeting in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday removed a freeze on delivering sophisticated S-300 air defence missile systems to Iran after Tehran struck a landmark framework deal with the West over its nuclear programme. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20371[/attach] Egypt's highest civilian court on Tuesday upheld a seven-year jail term for an Islamist politician and ex-presidential candidate convicted of falsifying official documents, his lawyer and judicial sources said. Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, a hardline Salafist Islamist, was one of many political figures arrested by the military after freely elected Islamist president Mohamed Mursi was toppled in 2013 following mass protests against his rule. Abu Ismail was disqualified from the 2012 election when it emerged that his mother held U.S. citizenship. The High Court refused his appeal, making the earlier verdict final and unchallengeable, judicial sources said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20365[/attach] Trowels in hand, on their haunches, masons in Timbuktu use traditional techniques to reconstruct precious mausoleums destroyed in an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012. Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents wrecked 16 of the fabled desert city's shrines to Muslim saints that date back to Timbuktu's 15th and 16th century golden age as an economic, intellectual and spiritual centre. After a 2013 French-led military operation drove the jihadists out of the city, the UN cultural body UNESCO began the rebuilding process with the Malian government and other international organisations. "What's nice is that UNESCO did not look for masons elsewhere," said one of the workers at the reconstruction site, around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) northeast of Mali's capital Bamako. Continue reading...

Japan's greenhouse-gas emissions rose to the second-highest on record in the year ended March 2014, revised government figures showed on Tuesday, reflecting a rise in coal-fired power after the indefinite closure of nuclear power plants. Emissions rose 1.2 percent to 1.408 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent from a year earlier, according to the revised data published by the Ministry of Environment. All of Japan's 48 nuclear reactors have been shut down since September 2013, amid rigorous safety checks required after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami wrecked the Fukushima plant northeast of Tokyo. Nuclear power had accounted for 26 percent of Japan's electricity generation. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20364[/attach] Rights groups on Tuesday welcomed China's unusual release of five feminist activists whose detention for more than a month triggered an international diplomatic outcry, saying the move showed Beijing sometimes responds to outside pressure. The five, all aged 32 or younger, were taken into custody shortly before International Women's Day last month as they were preparing to hand out leaflets about sexual harassment on public transport. The European Union, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton had all issued calls for their freedom, while Beijing said it was an internal issue. China's ruling Communist Party does not tolerate organised opposition, and often clamps down on small activist groups. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20363[/attach] By Jeffrey Dastin NEW YORK (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp , the fifth biggest U.S. airline by passengers carried, consistently cancels flights sooner than rivals when storms pummel the U.S. Northeast, a tactic that may help its customers reach destinations more reliably, a Reuters analysis of flight data shows. Scrapping some flights hours ahead of a storm lets an airline re-allocate planes and crew earlier, meaning fewer flights and passengers canceled in total as a storm passes. Canceling early also spares travelers unnecessary trips to the airport and gives them more options to rebook, compared with cancellations that take place at the last minute. Early cancellations reduce requests for refunds, JetBlue's Chief Executive Officer Robin Hayes told Reuters. The Reuters analysis found that 41 percent of cancellations by the five biggest U.S. carriers this winter occurred 12 or more hours before scheduled departures. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20362[/attach] A former Blackwater guard was sentenced to life in prison and three others received 30-year sentences Monday for their roles in a 2007 mass shooting in Iraq that left at least 14 civilians dead. The four ex-employees of the US private security firm were convicted last October on an array of charges ranging from first degree murder to voluntary manslaughter stemming from the incident in Baghdad's Nisour Square. During a two month-trial in US federal court in Washington, a jury heard how the four defendants opened fire with sniper rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers in the bustling square as they escorted a diplomatic convoy. US federal judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Nicholas Slatten, who was accused of firing the first shots, to life in prison on the first-degree murder charge. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20359[/attach] NORTH SOUND, Antigua (AP) — Ian Bell hit a polished 143 for his 22nd test century to help turn a precarious start for England into a powerful position on the opening day of the first test of the three-match series against West Indies at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium on Monday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20358[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge sentenced one former Blackwater security guard to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for their roles in a 2007 shooting that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others. Continue reading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon considers the slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 100 years ago "atrocity crimes," but he isn't supporting Pope Francis' description of the killings as "the first genocide of the 20th century," the U.N. spokesman said Monday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20357[/attach] BURNLEY, England (AP) — With chimneys rising from the former cotton mills which nestle between tightly-packed houses, Burnley provides a quintessentially English vista for fans at the town's soccer stadium. Continue reading...

The United States said on Monday it has expressed its concerns to Moscow over a Russian fighter jet's "sloppy" and unsafe intercept of a U.S. spy plane in international airspace, in the latest sign of tensions between the two countries. The incident took place on April 7 over the Baltic Sea, when a Russian SU-27 Flanker intercepted a U.S. RC-135U reconnaissance plane and performed what the Pentagon described as unsafe aerial maneuvers. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren said the Russian aircraft did a roll in front of the U.S. aircraft and showed its belly to the pilot to indicate it was armed. Relations between the West and Russia have soured as a result of Moscow's role in the conflict in Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea, while increased Russian military activity in the Baltics has added to tensions. Continue reading...

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) — Valencia beat crosstown rival Levante 3-0 at Mestalla Stadium on Monday to extend its unbeaten streak to 10 games and stay on track for a return to the Champions League. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20351[/attach] BEIRUT (AP) — A top leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group directed a barrage of criticism at Saudi Arabia on Monday, accusing the kingdom of committing genocide with its airstrike campaign targeting Yemen's Shiite rebels and warning it will "pay a heavy price" for its involvement. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20350[/attach] SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos is joining more than two dozen other ex-leaders in urging greater respect for human rights in Venezuela. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20349[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — Investors sent stocks slightly lower Monday ahead of a busy week for company earnings. Continue reading...

The U.N. agency responsible for Palestinian refugees said it had provided urgent supplies on Monday to around 500 civilians who have fled fighting in a Damascus camp that Islamic State has been battling to seize from rival insurgents. The mission to help the evacuees from the Yarmouk camp "was made possible following facilitation and dialogue with the Syrian government and local authorities", Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the head of the UNRWA agency, said in a statement. "UNRWA has shown that we can work with the parties on the ground and secure access," he said in Damascus while on a humanitarian mission to address the crisis in Yarmouk, where U.N. officials have warned of a potential massacre. Islamic State militants launched an attack to seize Yarmouk camp from rival insurgents earlier this month. Continue reading...