WorldNews

When asked about Wales-Ireland rugby tests, Warren Gatland, who coaches the former and used to coach the latter, said "it is like playing against your brother in the back yard." Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Germany's Commerzbank AG is paying $1.45 billion in agreements with U.S. and New York authorities for alleged violations of U.S. sanctions against countries including Iran and lapses in prevention of money laundering. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18809[/attach] Italy's cabinet on Thursday adopted Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's school reform bill, which he said would see 100,000 substitute teachers given permanent contracts and extra funds designated for teacher development. "The school reform is the most important for the country, we are proud of it," Renzi told journalists, brushing off criticism that he has watered down a project which initially promised to make the system more meritocratic. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18808[/attach] Villa Unión (Argentina) (AFP) - The surviving cast and crew of the ill-fated reality show "Dropped" wander aimlessly around their hotel, waiting to testify on the accident that killed their friends and colleagues, then return home to France. The hotel, the Picas Negras, is a star attraction in Villa Union, a small town at the edge of Route 76 in Argentina's remote, mountainous northwest. None are very keen to talk about the twin helicopter crash that killed Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, renowned sailor Florence Arthaud and Olympic boxer Alexis Vastine, as well as five French TV crew members and two Argentine pilots. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18807[/attach] Manchester United defender Jonny Evans' decision to spit at Newcastle's Papiss Cisse during a recent Premier League clash was branded "simply disgusting" by an Football Association regulatory commission. The Northern Ireland international and Newcastle's Senegal striker Cisse were both charged after spitting at each other during Manchester United's 1-0 victory at St James' Park on March 4 in an incident missed by referee Anthony Taylor. The three members of the regulatory commission accepted 27-year-old Evans was the only person who could know his intent, but stated: "It is clear that Mr Evans is looking directly and indeed aggressively at Mr Cisse. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18806[/attach] Iceland on Thursday announced it was dropping its bid to join the European Union in line with pledges made two years ago by its then new eurosceptic government. Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009 but Foreign Minister Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson said in a statement that the centre-right government had informed current EU president Latvia and the European Commission of its decision to annul the application. "Iceland's interests are better served outside the European Union," the minister wrote on his website. Iceland first applied for EU membership under a leftist government in 2009, when the country was badly shaken by an economic crisis that saw the Icelandic krona lose almost half its value, making eurozone membership an attractive prospect. Continue reading...

By Serena Maria Daniels DETROIT (Reuters) - A Palestinian activist was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Thursday for immigration fraud for failing to tell U.S. authorities that she had been imprisoned in Israel for a 1969 supermarket bombing that killed two people. Rasmieh Yousef Odeh, 67, also will be deported after serving her sentence as a result of last year's conviction in a Detroit federal court of unlawful procurement of naturalization. Before sentencing, Odeh had told U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain, "I'm not a terrorist. I'm not a bad woman." But Drain said the offense is about lying to federal immigration official and under oath, and denied defense claims that the prosecution was political. Continue reading...

By Francesco Guarascio BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European countries will carry out by June deeper checks on EU citizens entering the passport-free Schengen area, based on a set of "common risk indicators" aimed at singling out fighters returning from war zones and other dangerous people. European Union home affairs ministers agreed on Thursday to enhance controls at the borders of the Schengen area following a call by EU leaders for stricter checks after the Islamist attack on French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. Border control authorities will use the risk indicators "when conducting systematic checks on persons," said EU home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos. "The list is being finalised with Interpol in the coming weeks and will be implemented with the support of Frontex (the EU border control agency)," Avramopoulos told a press conference. Continue reading...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Egypt's president approved a package of amendments to investment laws on Thursday, aimed at enticing foreign investors on the eve of a major economic conference that will bring together hundreds of business executives and foreign leaders. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18798[/attach] GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli authorities allowed the import of Gaza produce on Thursday for the first time since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007, a move that will aid the Palestinian strip's battered economy and help pious Jews observe a biblical farming sabbatical. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18797[/attach] MOSCOW (AP) — Russia accused Ukraine Thursday of dragging its feet on implementing last month's peace deal, citing a wide range of areas in which Kiev is allegedly failing to meet its obligations. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18792[/attach] Israelis vote next week in an election seen as a referendum on the tenure of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who could lose but still secure a new term in power. Netanyahu, 65, called for the March 17 vote late last year as his coalition government teetered on the brink of collapse. It will be Israel's third election since 2009 and the premier's biggest challenge after six years at the helm. "Netanyahu is the big question here, after having been in power for so long," said political analyst Tamir Sheafer. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18791[/attach] South Africa's state-owned power company Eskom suspended Thursday its chief executive and three other top officials as its board launched an inquiry into the troubled utility after a series of crippling blackouts. Eskom has been struggling to keep the lights on in Africa's most advanced economy since November with consumer demand repeatedly eclipsing supply. "To ensure that this process is as transparent and uninhibited as possible, the board has also resolved that four of its senior executives... should step down for the duration of this enquiry," said Eskom Chairman Zola Tsotsi. In 2008, South Africa was hit by an energy crisis that forced its mines shut for days, cost the country billions of dollars and led to a sell off in the rand. Continue reading...

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — Bundesliga club Cologne has been ordered to pay a heavy fine and close part of its stadium for three home games following crowd disturbances involving its fans. Continue reading...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The United States will open the defense of its CONCACAF Gold Cup title on July 7 against Honduras or French Guiana at Frisco, Texas. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18790[/attach] Three Danish women pleaded guilty on Thursday to breaking Kenyan customs laws by attempting to smuggle suitcases stuffed with a narcotic herb out of the country. The women were arrested at Moi International Airport in Mombasa with four suitcases containing 61 kilogrammes of khat, a mild herbal narcotic also known as miraa, that is grown legally in Kenya but banned in Europe. "Our officers discovered the miraa wrapped and hidden in the suitcases as the three waited to board a flight," said airport police chief Richard Okweya. It is believed the drugs were destined for Britain, where they would have an estimated street value equivalent to 20 million Kenyan shillings ($220,000). Continue reading...

[attach=full]18784[/attach] Iraqi commanders said Thursday that time was on their side as government forces tighten their siege of Tikrit and warned they would not be rushed into a final assault. Since the operation to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State group was launched at the start of the month, thousands of troops and militia have reconquered the land around the city. On Wednesday, they moved deep into Tikrit's sprawling northern district of Qadisiyah and closed in on the few hundred jihadist fighters holed up in the city centre. "We don't want to be rushed because we want to avoid casualties," he told AFP in Albu Ajil, a village from which Tikrit can be seen across the Tigris river. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18783[/attach] Over 200 people have been arrested in Tanzania as part of a nationwide crackdown on witchdoctors linked to a wave of albino attacks and murders, police said Thursday. "Some of those arrested were found in possession of items like lizard skin, warthog teeth, ostrich eggs, monkey tails, bird claws, mule tails and lion skin," said police spokesperson, Advera Bulimba. Bulimba said the police campaign would target the entire network of gangsters, traders and witchdoctors. The mass arrest comes a few days after President Jakaya Kikwete described as "disgusting and a big embarrassment for the nation" the ongoing attacks against people with albinism whose body parts are used for witchcraft. Continue reading...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is seeking to obtain Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States or another country, Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18782[/attach] TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — Rockets and mortars echoed across Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit on Thursday as Iraqi security forces clashed with Islamic State militants a day after sweeping into the Sunni city north of Baghdad. Continue reading...

By Megan Rowling SENDAI, Japan (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The number of people forced from their homes each year by disasters has quadrupled over the past four decades, and the risk of being displaced has doubled, said a Norwegian humanitarian group. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, called on governments meeting in Sendai, Japan, later this week to tackle displacement as part of a new global plan to reduce disaster risk worldwide. The plan's predecessor, the Hyogo Framework for Action, did not refer to displacement by disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and drought, the center said. "The world has a unique opportunity at Sendai to prevent millions of people from losing their homes by more robustly linking displacement risk with disaster risk reduction plans," said IDMC director Alfredo Zamudio. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18777[/attach] Despite Western and Arab hopes he would be consigned to the dustbin of history, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad enters his fifth year of war with an increasingly tight hold on power. Alarm over the sweeping expansion of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Syria and Iraq means that international priorities have shifted away from Assad's removal. "Assad has improved his position internationally. The US, EU states and others are no longer demanding his immediate departure," said Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. Continue reading...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official visit to Sri Lanka on Friday reflects a bounce back in bilateral relations as the South Asian power seeks to mitigate China's growing influence on its Indian Ocean neighbors. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18776[/attach] The Syrian conflict, which began with peaceful protests before escalating into a grinding civil war, has touched off a humanitarian catastrophe that has inundated the region. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18775[/attach] Formula One minnows Sauber on Thursday lost their appeal against a court ruling that ordered them to allow Giedo van der Garde to drive in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The decision in the Victoria Supreme Court throws their preparations into chaos, with the Swiss team claiming it would be unsafe to let him take part. Van der Garde originally took his complaint to a Swiss arbitration tribunal which ordered Sauber to keep him in the cockpit. Victoria Supreme Court Justice Clyde Croft backed that ruling, enforcing it in Australia. Continue reading...