WorldNews

[attach=full]19347[/attach] FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germanwings, a low-cost unit of Lufthansa, had recorded no accidents involving passenger deaths until one of its planes crashed in the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 on board. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19346[/attach] BOSTON (AP) — The group behind Boston's bid to host the 2024 Olympics said Tuesday that it wants the residents of Massachusetts to decide whether the effort to bring the games to the city should go forward. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19345[/attach] By Denis Dumo JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's parliament voted on Tuesday to extend President Salva Kiir's term in office by three years, after elections due to be held in June were called off and negotiations to end more than a year of internal conflict broke up without agreement. Speaker Manasseh Magok Rundial said parliament overwhelmingly approved Kiir's extension, as well as similar three-year prolongation of parliament's own term. Thousands of people have been killed and more than a million have fled their homes since fighting between supporters of Kiir and former vice president Riek Machar erupted in the world's newest nation in December 2013. The 270 members of parliament present voted on Tuesday to amend the country's transitional 2011 constitution to extend the presidential and parliamentary term until July 9, 2018, with 264 members in favor and a handful opposing it. Continue reading...

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Prosecutors are seeking a five-year prison sentence for the owner of a Dutch meat processing plant who is accused of selling horse meat as beef. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19344[/attach] BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Nenad Mihailovic flouts Serbian taboo. He's openly gay in a country notorious for strident homophobia. He uses a wheelchair in a society that shows little sympathy for the disabled. And he's a voice of liberal thinking in a nation where strong leaders have a tendency to quash dissent. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — Kevin Pietersen secured a release from his contract with Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday in a bid to reignite his England career. Continue reading...

The German government said on Tuesday it was sending air safety experts and its transport minister to the site of a plane crash in France involving GermanWings and the foreign minister said his thoughts were with victims' relatives. Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt will travel to the crash site in southern France, his ministry said, adding that German air safety experts were already on their way. Continue reading...

Turkish security forces have launched an operation targeting shelters and stores believed to belong to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the military said on Tuesday, days after the group's jailed leader called its armed struggle "unsustainable". On Saturday jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan called for his group to hold a congress on ending its armed struggle, which he said had become "unsustainable". Continue reading...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Maldives government has invited the United Nations and other international organizations to observe the former president's appeal of his 13-year jail sentence. Continue reading...

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Laila Bassam AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of Syria and Iraq met in Damascus on Tuesday to discuss ways to tackle militant groups in their countries and Iraq called for greater international cooperation to combat the violence, Syrian state media said. The Shi'ite Muslim-led government in Baghdad, together with Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah, have been important allies for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iraq's armed forces are also the main partner on the ground for a U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State militants in Iraq but Washington and other Western governments have dismissed the idea of cooperating directly with Syria in the same fight. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama welcomes Afghanistan's new president to the White House on Tuesday with a fraught question staring them in the face: Will the U.S. slow its departure from Afghanistan — and for how long? Continue reading...

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — Two intelligence officials in Pakistan say a suspected U.S. drone strike just across the border in Afghanistan has killed at least nine militants. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19340[/attach] YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Police in northwestern Myanmar have rejected a lawsuit filed by two Buddhist monks against Myanmar's home minister and police chief, saying they are protected by law. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19339[/attach] In a crumbling Khartoum sports hall, a dozen Nuba men in sweat-faded singlets practise wrestling moves under the critical gaze of their Japanese coach, 23-year old Kosuke Sunagawa. The students had to return to work to support themselves, making it difficult to find time for wrestling. Continue reading...

HONG KONG (AP) — China's manufacturing fell to the lowest level in nearly a year as new orders shrank, according to a report Tuesday that underscored the weakening outlook for the world's second biggest economy. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19335[/attach] Auckland (AFP) - South Africa won the toss and opted to bat first against New Zealand in their World Cup semi-final at Eden Park on Tuesday. Continue reading...

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. diplomat in Yemen on Monday said Washington and its allies need to make decisions quickly to preserve the possibility of a political solution to the crisis in Yemen. Ambassador Matthew Tueller said he was optimistic that rival Yemeni factions could reach a political power-sharing agreement if a broad group of representatives could meet outside the country and without the influence of outside parties such as Iran. "We recognize that we've got to make some decisions quickly," Tueller told Reuters after a meeting of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, citing rapid advances by the Iranian-allied Houthi militia toward the southern port of Aden, where Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled. Al-Faisal spoke after Riyadh Yaseen, named by Hadi as his interim foreign minister, called for Gulf Arab military intervention in Yemen, and notably the imposition of a no-fly zone, to stop territorial advances by Houthi fighters. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19338[/attach] An Argentine archaeologist who discovered what he thinks was a hideout built for German Nazis to flee to after World War II said more dark secrets may be buried there. Daniel Schavelzon grabbed headlines and revived uncomfortable memories for Argentina, a notorious refuge for Nazi war criminals, when he went public at the weekend with his discovery of mysterious ruins deep in the jungle that he suspects were planned as a Nazi hideout. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19337[/attach] SAPPHIRE, North Carolina (AP) — A Florida businessman who authorities say faked his own death to dodge debts while reaping millions in life insurance benefits is sitting in a North Carolina jail after allegedly applying for a passport under another man's name. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19336[/attach] African elephants could be extinct in the wild within a few decades, experts warned at a major conservation summit in Botswana that highlighted an alarming decline in numbers due to poaching for ivory. The Africa Elephant Summit, held at a tourist resort in Kasane, gathered delegates from about 20 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, including China -- which is accused of fuelling the illegal poaching trade. Continue reading...

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican health officials says air quality tests done in the wake of a massive dump fire show such high levels of a known carcinogen that they now consider it a significant public health issue. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19326[/attach] Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Monday agreed a preliminary deal on a controversial dam project that Cairo feared would reduce its share of vital waters from the Nile. The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan all gathered in Khartoum to sign the agreement of principles on Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19325[/attach] Oil company BP said on Monday it has stopped supporting conservative political group ALEC, becoming the latest corporation to end its membership in a group critics say works to deny the existence of climate change. "We have determined that we can effectively pursue policy matters of current interest to BP without renewing our membership in ALEC," a spokesman said. BP was the second large oil company to drop support of the group after Occidental Petroleum cut ties last year. Companies have come under pressure from environmental and civic groups to end their associations with the American Legislative Exchange Council, a coalition of about 2,000 state lawmakers and corporations that promotes free trade and limited government intervention. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan needs short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons to deter arch-rival India, a top adviser to its government said Monday, dismissing concerns it could increase the risk of a nuclear war. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19324[/attach] Karim Wade, the son of former Senegal president Abdoulaye Wade bidding to follow his father to the top office, was sentenced to six years in prison on Monday in a deeply divisive graft case. He was however cleared of the main corruption charge -- initially said to involve one billion euros but later whittled down to 105 million euros -- by a special anti-corruption court in Dakar. Continue reading...