WorldNews

[attach=full]19862[/attach] Fierce fighting for control of Yemen's main southern city Aden has left at least 185 people dead and more than 1,200 wounded, including many civilians, a medical official said Saturday. The port city, a last foothold of supporters of absent President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, has been shaken by more than a week of clashes between Shiite rebels and loyalist militia backed by Saudi-led air strikes. At least 185 dead and 1,282 wounded from the fighting have been counted in hospitals in Aden since March 26, the city's health department director Al-Kheder Lassouar said. Lassouar called on international organisations and Arab states participating in the coalition to provide emergency medical assistance to hospitals in Aden. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19861[/attach] KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) — Two hours before the Miami Open semifinal, Novak Djokovic practiced his returns in an empty stadium, the ball coming at him quickly because his hitting partner stood several feet inside the baseline to emulate big-serving John Isner. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19860[/attach] Dick Advocaat could not have asked for a more dramatic introduction to life at the Stadium of Light as his first home match in charge of Sunderland will be a fiercely-contested derby against Newcastle on Sunday. Thousands of Sunderland fans walked out of the ground long before the end of their previous home game against Aston Villa, when a 4-0 defeat ended the reign of Gus Poyet and left the Black Cats one point outside the Premier League's relegation zone. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19859[/attach] The UN Security Council will meet Saturday to discuss a Russian proposal for humanitarian pauses in the Saudi-led air campaign in Yemen, diplomats said. Russia called for the meeting of the 15-member council amid growing alarm over the rising civilian death toll from the fighting in Yemen. UN aid chief Valerie Amos said Thursday she was "extremely concerned" about the fate of civilians trapped in fierce fighting after aid agencies reported that 519 people had been killed and nearly 1,700 injured in two weeks. The UN children's agency this week said at least 62 children had been killed and 30 injured over the past week in Yemen, and that more of them were being recruited as child soldiers. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19858[/attach] RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Residents in one of Rio de Janeiro's biggest complex of slums demonstrated Friday over the shooting death of a young boy in the shantytown, allegedly at the hands of police. Continue reading...

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Queensland Reds lock and former Australia captain James Horwill has been suspended for one week after being sent off in the Super Rugby loss to the Melbourne Rebels on Friday. Continue reading...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) — A moderate earthquake rattled the Central American nation of Costa Rica on Friday. Continue reading...

PRAGUE (AP) — Czech police say they have seized a record amount of cocaine in a shipment of bananas for a supermarket. Continue reading...

MADRID (AP) — Goals by Alberto Bueno and Manucho helped Rayo Vallecano rally to beat Eibar 2-1 away on Friday in the Spanish league. Continue reading...

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — An argument over parking at an embassy in South America has caused a minor diplomatic row between neighboring Guyana and Suriname. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19850[/attach] Two more Saudi soldiers have been killed on the border with Yemen, the interior ministry said on Friday. "Two soldiers from the border guards were martyred during an exchange of fire at a border point in Asir region" in Saudi Arabia's southwest, said the ministry's spokesman cited by the official Saudi Press Agency. The deaths come a day after the ministry announced the first Saudi casualty -- a soldier shot from the Yemenis side of the border in the same area -- since a coalition led by Riyadh launched air strikes against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen on March 26. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19841[/attach] Pentagon chief Ashton Carter will travel to Japan and South Korea next week to underscore President Barack Obama's commitment to a strategic shift towards Asia, even as crises in the Middle East preoccupy Washington. Carter embarks on the first of two trips to Asia on Tuesday, stopping in Tokyo and Seoul before meeting the head of US Pacific Command in Hawaii, officials said. Continue reading...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania's intelligence agency says a Bucharest court has ruled that six foreigners have been banned from the country due to their links with al-Qaida and the Islamic state. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19840[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — The framework nuclear deal sealed by world powers and Iran leaves major questions: Could Iran cheat? Possibly. Would the U.S or anyone else be able to respond in time? In theory, yes. Are they prepared to use military force? Questionable. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19839[/attach] SANAA, Yemen (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition trying to halt the advance of Yemen's Shiite rebels airdropped weapons to beleaguered fighters in a southern port city on Friday, while al-Qaida militants overran a key military base in eastern Yemen, further expanding their gains in this violence-wracked country. Continue reading...

SALEM, Massachusetts (AP) — One of Massachusetts' most prestigious art museums is turning a portrait over to federal authorities because it was purchased from a dealer accused of trafficking in stolen antiquities from India. Continue reading...

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama is banning drones from national airspace immediately before, during and after next week's Summit of the Americas. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19834[/attach] Syria's government on Friday welcomed a nuclear deal between its key ally Iran and world powers, saying the framework agreement would "ease regional and international tensions". "Syria welcomes the statement produced by the discussions between Iran and the P5+1 group" of world powers, state media said, citing a foreign ministry source. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19833[/attach] From the far right to the radical left, populist parties across Europe are being courted by Russia's Vladimir Putin who aims to turn them into allies in his anti-EU campaign. The Front National (FN) in France, Syriza in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary may be the most famous ones but they are far from being alone. They are united in their objective to "challenge the EU", and this in turn aligns them with Russia's wish for a "weak and divided Europe", explains Hungarian political analyst Peter Kreko. In the longer term, the Kremlin banks on these parties' accession to power to change Europe and separate it from NATO and the United States. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19832[/attach] The bodies of the 148 students and security officers massacred by Somalia's Shebab Islamists in a Kenyan university were flown Friday to Nairobi and their desperate and grieving loved ones. The day-long siege of Garissa University was Kenya's deadliest attack since the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi, and the bloodiest ever by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated militants. The Kenyan government, however, vowed that it would not be "intimidated". Many were forced to phone their parents to urge them to call for Kenyan troops to leave Somalia -- before shooting them anyway. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19831[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. government bond prices jumped and the dollar dipped on Friday following news that U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in a month since December 2013. The stock market was closed in observance of Good Friday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19820[/attach] The Egyptian affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility Friday for deadly attacks on army checkpoints in the Sinai Peninsula that killed 15 soldiers and two civilians. Jihadists launched simultaneous attacks Thursday on five checkpoints in the restive Sinai with assault rifles and grenade launchers, the deadliest in months against Egyptian security forces. "The lions of the Sinai Province early on Thursday launched wide scale simultaneous attacks against security checkpoints on the road between Rafah and Arish," in North Sinai, the group said in a tweet. Ansar Beit al-Maqdis -- Partisans of Jerusalem in English -- changed its name last year to Sinai Province after pledging allegiance to IS, which controls chunks of territory in Iraq and Syria. Continue reading...

CAIRO (AP) — The Islamic State's branch in Egypt has claimed responsibility for a wave of deadly attacks that killed 15 Egyptian soldiers and three civilians the previous day in volatile northern Sinai. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19819[/attach] Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi forces to oppose vandalism in the city of Tikrit, retaken from the Islamic State group this week, and arrest those responsible, his office said Friday. Security and military forces were ordered to "deal with cases of vandalism" carried out by "gangs" seeking to tarnish the achievements of government forces and allied paramilitaries, a statement said. Abadi also called on "forces located in Tikrit to arrest everyone who carries out such acts, and preserve properties and facilities in Salaheddin province," of which Tikrit is the capital. Policemen from the rapid response forces have written graffiti on walls in Tikrit as well. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19818[/attach] British political parties scrambled to claim victory Friday after no clear winner emerged from the only seven-way leaders' debate before the general election. The debate saw Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's method for balancing the budget come under attack from all corners. Meanwhile Labour main opposition leader Ed Miliband, his chief rival for the premiership, sought to improve an awkward media image with some well-rehearsed pieces to camera. Continue reading...