WorldNews

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An American helicopter mechanic whose Facebook post complaining about his employer in the United Arab Emirates got him arrested in the Mideast nation said Tuesday he has been told the company is seeking to dismiss the charges against him. Continue reading...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine government said Tuesday that four Filipino nurses reported to have been kidnapped from a Libyan hospital by militants from an Islamic State group affiliate were actually taken to a safe place by a friend and were not abducted. Continue reading...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Former England international Dimitri Mascarenhas has been appointed bowling coach of the New Zealand cricket team, replacing Shane Bond who will leave the role after the current World Cup. Continue reading...

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal is adding more medical staff at Mount Everest's base camp and working to speed up rescue efforts, officials said Tuesday, in steps to boost safety after 16 local guides were killed by an avalanche last year in the deadliest disaster ever on the world's highest peak. Continue reading...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A Roman Catholic archbishop in Australia was charged Tuesday with covering up for a pedophile priest during the 1970s. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19025[/attach] BEIJING (AP) — The vice chairman of China's biggest state-owned energy company has become the latest prominent executive targeted by Communist Party investigators in a spreading anti-corruption campaign. Continue reading...

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Ecuador's foreign minister says that he and colleagues from Brazil and Colombia suggested Venezuela's president let the International Red Cross visit jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19019[/attach] An eccentric US tycoon was charged Monday over the execution-style killing of a mobster's daughter and could face death if found guilty, in the latest installment of a TV murder mystery which has captivated America. Robert Durst, 71, the scion of a New York real estate dynasty worth $4.4 billion, was charged in Los Angeles with murder over the 2000 death of his close friend Susan Berman, after he was arrested in New Orleans on Saturday. It was not clear if Durst was sincerely confessing, but authorities in Los Angeles reportedly said the television documentary had played a role in their decision to seek the multimillionaire's arrest for Berman's murder. Durst's attorney Dick DeGuerin said earlier Monday his client was innocent and ready to face trial in California. Continue reading...

ZURICH (AP) — FIFA withdrew its objection to Manaus and chose the Amazon jungle city on Monday to host matches at the 2016 Olympics. Continue reading...

By Chris Arsenault ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Economic losses due to natural disasters have tripled over the past decade, with farmers bearing nearly a quarter of the burden in poor countries, a U.N. study said on Tuesday. Floods, droughts, storms and other natural disasters cost the agricultural sector in developing countries $70 billion in damages between 2003 and 2013, said the study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) released during an international conference on reducing disaster risk in Sendai, Japan. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — It's a soldier's life no more for Britain's Prince Harry. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19015[/attach] The governor of northern Kenya's Mandera county on Monday attacked what he called a "hopeless" security situation due to a wave of cross-border attacks by Somalia's Shebab militants. Speaking in the capital Nairobi, Ali Roba said he had survived six attempts on his life -- including an ambush of his convoy on Friday -- and questioned why Kenyan soldiers were part of an African Union force supporting Somalia's government while leaving their own country unprotected. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19014[/attach] French experts reexamining evidence have confirmed their earlier conclusion that the 2004 death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was not the result of poisoning, a prosecutor told AFP Monday. The prosecutor for the western Paris suburb of Nanterre said the experts found there was no foul play in Arafat's death, which sparked immediate and enduring conspiracy rumours. A centre in the Swiss city of Lausanne had tested biological samples taken from Arafat's personal belongings given to his widow after his death, and found "abnormal levels of polonium" -- an extremely radioactive toxin, but stopped short of saying that he had been poisoned by polonium. French experts "maintain that the polonium-210 and lead-210 found in Arafat's grave and in the samples are of an environmental nature," Nanterre prosecutor Catherine Denis said. Continue reading...

The European Union's financial affairs chief Pierre Moscovici said on Monday that Greece needed to repay its debt and could not expect its loans to be written off, adding that Athens needed to implement reforms. There will be no haircut, no debt relief," the European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs said in a speech in Berlin. Moscovici said the contagion risks to the rest of the euro zone from the Greek crisis were "much lower" than they were two years ago but stressed that countries needed to press on with reforms. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19013[/attach] Britain's opposition Labour leader on Monday ruled out a formal coalition with Scottish separatists after May's general election, although the Scots' figurehead said an informal partnership was still possible. Labour's hopes of returning to power have been severely dented by a surge in support for the left-wing Scottish National Party, which threatens to wipe out Labour's majority of 40 out of 59 seats in Scotland -- and thereby possibly thwart their bid for a parliamentary majority of 326 seats. Prime Minister David Cameron -- whose own centre-right Tories also look unlikely to secure the majority needed to govern alone after May 7 -- has used the prospect of a coalition with SNP to attack Labour for several weeks. During a campaign speech in Leeds, northern England, on Monday, centre-left Labour leader Ed Miliband finally responded and ruled out a formal coalition with the SNP, saying: "There are big differences between us. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19012[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — NBA teams will no longer be outfitted by Adidas after the 2016-17 season, as the shoemaker and sports gear company said Monday it wouldn't renew its partnership with the league. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19000[/attach] France has blocked five websites accused of condoning terrorism, in the first use of new government powers that came into force in February, the interior ministry said on Monday. One of the sites -- al-Hayat Media Center -- is accused of links to the Islamic State group, the ministry said. The banning order was given to Internet service providers, who had 24 hours to take "all necessary measures to block the listing of these addresses" under the new rules. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said at the time that 40 more people were likely to be barred from travelling in the coming weeks. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18999[/attach] Uganda on Monday stood by plans to send more than 240 of its health workers to the Caribbean despite a Belgian threat to cut 11 million euros in aid. Last week Belgium's cooperation minister, Alexander De Croo, said his country was suspending a transfer of development money destined for the east African nation's health sector. The government scheme has already been criticised by the United States, which gives $400 million (357 million euros) in aid to Uganda's health sector every year. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18998[/attach] DUBLIN (AP) — Wales will have to wait a day to receive the Six Nations trophy if the team manages to pull off an unlikely title victory in Saturday's competition finale. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18997[/attach] Cairo (AFP) - An Egyptian court on Monday condemned to death Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie and 13 other senior members of the banned movement, state media and lawyers said. Continue reading...

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker made light on Monday of intense debate sparked by his comment a week ago that he favored establishing a "European army". Had this been my strategy, I would have been very proud of it." He said he had simply responded in the affirmative when a German newspaper interviewer asked if he favored a European army. "We need a European army," Juncker told the conference organized by the Friends of Europe and Jacques Delors Institute. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18988[/attach] IRBIL, Iraq (AP) — Kurdish forces in Iraq are investigating two other possible chemical weapons attacks by the Islamic State group, a top official said Monday, as authorities put an Iraqi offensive to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown on hold. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18987[/attach] LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police fired tear gas on Monday after Christian protesters clashed with police in the eastern city of Lahore, a day after Taliban suicide bombers killed 17 people in suicide attacks on two churches in the city. Continue reading...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday that he wanted European Union leaders to make clear at a summit this week that they would impose further sanctions against Russia if Moscow does not implement the Minsk agreement. "If the commitments are not fulfilled, and I really hope that on (March) 19th at the summit, that it will be said just as clearly, then the sanctions will continue to be imposed and will be stepped up," he said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. ... Continue reading...

[attach=full]18986[/attach] ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin resurfaced Monday, looking healthy after a 10-day absence from public view. Continue reading...