WorldNews

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Under pressure from human rights groups, Colombia's government has backtracked on wording in proposed legislation that critics said could deny justice for the families of thousands of victims of extrajudicial killings at the hands of the country's U.S.-backed military. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20400[/attach] Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa abruptly pulled out of a public lunch on Tuesday because of what he called "a serious threat" of attack against him. The threat was being investigated and one person had been arrested. Continue reading...

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Asian Cup champion Australia will play its first home match of its 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign in Perth, Western Australia on Sept. 3 against Bangladesh. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20399[/attach] Astronaut Chris Hadfield is taking music to intergalactic heights with the first album written and recorded in space. The debut album by the Canadian, 55, who skyrocketed to stardom in 2013 with his take of David Bowie's "Space oddity," will be launched in the fall. "Space album! Happy to announce that we will release a full album's worth of music written and recorded in space in fall 2015 with Warner Music Canada. Hadfield, who retired as an astronaut in June 2013, had an acoustic guitar and a laptop during his stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from December 2012 to May 2013. Continue reading...

The ruling, which the United States said it would appeal, upholds Mexico's complaint that revamped U.S. labeling rules are still discriminatory because they disqualify Mexican tuna from bearing dolphin-safe labels, unlike other countries' tuna. "We recommend that the dispute settlement body request the United States bring its measure, which we have found to be inconsistent with (the WTO rules) ... into conformity with its obligations," the WTO panel said. Continue reading...

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have discussed holding a "major military maneuver" in Saudi Arabia with other Gulf states, the Egyptian presidency said, after the two countries discussed the progress of a Saudi-led campaign against Shi'ite militias in neighboring Yemen. Egyptian naval and air forces are already participating in the campaign against Houthi militias in Yemen, and Cairo has said it would supply ground forces "if necessary". Egypt said the topic of maneuvers in the Saudi kingdom was discussed during a meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Cairo on Tuesday. "It was agreed to form a joint military committee to discuss the implementation of a major strategic maneuver in the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the participation of a joint Arab force which includes troops from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states," the Presidency statement said. Continue reading...

GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands (AP) — Police say nearly two dozen packages of cocaine have washed up on a beach in the Cayman Islands. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20393[/attach] Up to 400 illegal migrants died after their vessel capsized off the Libyan coast on Sunday, said survivors who were brought to Italy, where tension is mounting over a surge in boat arrivals from North Africa. There were 15,000 in April alone last year and an average of 25,000 each month between June and September. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20392[/attach] CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — SpaceX launched a shipment of groceries to the International Space Station on Tuesday, including the first espresso maker bound for orbit. But the company's third attempt to land the leftover booster on an ocean platform failed. Continue reading...

By Mary Wisniewski CHICAGO (Reuters) - At least 1,137 Chicago-area dogs have come down with a highly contagious strain of canine flu, and six have died, in the largest and longest-lasting dog flu outbreak ever seen in the region, county officials said on Tuesday. Veterinarians began reporting cases of Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease, or CIRD, in January, said Cook County spokesman Frank Shuftan. Symptoms of CIRD include persistent and lingering cough, lethargic behavior, poor appetite and a fever, said Dr. Donna Alexander, administrator of the Cook County Department of Animal & Rabies Control. Humans cannot get dog flu, but they can spread it, so Alexander recommended thorough hand-washing after touching or petting a dog. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20386[/attach] AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — The military chief of Libya's internationally recognized government expressed skepticism Tuesday about U.N.-backed talks aimed at ending the country's political split and said in an interview that he is "betting on a military solution" if a deal remains elusive. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20385[/attach] SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Street battles and air raids are driving more and more Yemenis from their homes, the United Nations said Tuesday as the worsening conflict forced the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country's liquefied natural gas company to shut down production. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20384[/attach] By Colin Packham SYDNEY (Reuters) - Weather models show an El Nino is likely to emerge this year, with at least a 70 percent chance the weather pattern could arrive as early as June, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said on Tuesday. El Nino, or a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can prompt drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and heavy rains in South America, hitting production of food such as rice, wheat and sugar. "The chances of El Nino occurring in 2015 have increased," the Australian weather bureau said. Tropical Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures are now just shy of El Nino levels, the BOM said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20383[/attach] Russian investigators on Tuesday were investigating a dance school after a video showing teenage girls in bee costumes performing the sexually explicit "twerking" dance move was viewed millions of times online. The video, called "Winnie-the-Pooh and the bees", shows a group of girls in striped orange leotards and short black wrap skirts performing on stage at a dance school in the central Russian city of Orenburg. Since being uploaded onto YouTube at the weekend it has gained more than five million views, drawing the attention of the powerful Investigative Committee. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20382[/attach] By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he could accept a revised bipartisan bill on Iran's nuclear agreement after leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee reached agreement on revisions that would allow Congress to vote on it. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama, who earlier had said he would veto the proposed bill because he feared it would scuttle the emerging Iran deal, could accept compromises that have emerged and have drawn bipartisan Senate support. Continue reading...

[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...