WorldNews

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — A new group has emerged in Cyprus to claim responsibility for two of five bomb attacks targeting soccer referees in the past year, police said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18425[/attach] By Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Prime Minister Narendra Modi will offer island nations in the Indian Ocean a broad range of military and civilian assistance next week in a bid to wrest back some of the influence China has gained by spending billions of dollars in the region. Modi will make the pledges during a visit to Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles after decades of neglect by successive Indian governments. His trip to Sri Lanka will be the first in 28 years by an Indian prime minister. Continue reading...

MONTERREY, Mexico (AP) — Top-seeded defending champion Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the quarterfinals in the Monterrey Open on Wednesday night, beating Pauline Parmentier of France 6-3, 6-2. Continue reading...

SYDNEY (AP) — Six men were charged in Sydney with drug smuggling and more than 480 kilograms (1,060 pounds) of cocaine and methamphetamine have been seized in Columbia and Australia in a joint Australian-Colombian police operation, officials said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18424[/attach] TUKWILA, Wash. (AP) — Before he was in Major League Soccer, Zach Scott worked in accounting, as a coach and as a substitute teacher to pay the bills while he played in pro soccer's lower division. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18423[/attach] The European Union and Cuba held a third round of "frank" talks aimed at normalizing relations, as Havana and Washington work through their own historic rapprochement. The two-day session in Havana, part of a dialogue that began 11 months ago, is aimed at tackling sensitive human rights issues and finalizing an agreement "on political dialogue and cooperation," meant to turn the page on a decade of estrangement. The talks are being led by European chief negotiator Christian Leffler and Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Abelardo Moreno. The pair headed the two previous rounds, in Brussels in August and in Havana in April. Continue reading...

The U.S. State Department said the American ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was injured in an assault during a breakfast speech in Seoul but that his injuries were not life threatening. "We strongly condemn this act of violence," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said, adding Lippert was being treated at a hospital. President Barack Obama called Lippert to wish him a speedy recovery, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18414[/attach] Since Hugo Chavez died two years ago, Venezuela's economy has tanked and the government has lurched toward more repressive tactics, triggering nostalgia among the late leftist firebrand's supporters and even his opponents. Chavez's hand-picked successor, President Nicolas Maduro, has largely followed his mentor's script for "21st-century socialism," right down to the hours-long diatribes against "American imperialism" and the tracksuits in the colors of the Venezuelan flag. Continue reading...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Former U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, along with 10 Americans, has been given wild cards into the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open next week. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18413[/attach] LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mistakes and miscommunication by three governments on three continents over nearly 20 years led to a homeless man known as "Africa" being on Los Angeles' Skid Row, where he was shot by police after authorities say he became combative and appeared to reach for an officer's weapon. Continue reading...

President Barack Obama has called Mark Lippert, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, to wish him a speedy recovery, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said on Wednesday after the envoy was slashed in the face in Seoul. "The President called U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Mark Lippert, to tell him that he and his wife Robyn are in his thoughts and prayers, and to wish him the very best for a speedy recovery," Meehan said. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Serious Fraud Office says it is investigating Bank of England auctions in 2007 and 2008 that were designed to inject cash into the banking system during the financial crisis. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18411[/attach] NEWCASTLE, England (AP) — Ashley Young capitalized on a dreadful error by Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul and scored an 89th-minute goal to earn Manchester United a 1-0 win in the Premier League on Wednesday, tightening his team's grip on fourth place. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18410[/attach] Argentine prosecutors on Wednesday appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their case against President Cristina Kirchner for allegedly protecting Iranian officials accused of orchestrating a deadly 1994 bombing. Prosecutors are seeking to relaunch the case that was being brought by their late colleague Alberto Nisman, who died mysteriously after accusing Kirchner of shielding Iranians suspected of ordering the bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center. Lead prosecutor Gerardo Pollicita argued in his 35-page appeal that Judge Daniel Rafecas was overly hasty in his decision last Thursday to throw out the case. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18409[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks sank Wednesday, pulling indexes further below record highs hit earlier in the week. The drop was modest but broad: nine of the 10 sectors in the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost ground. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18408[/attach] SYDNEY (AP) — Ricardo Goulart's hat trick led Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande to a 3-2 win over titleholder Western Sydney in the Asian Champions League on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Seventeen miners died in an explosion at a coal mine in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukrainian, where a blast trapped dozens of people, the news agency RIA Novosti said, citing the region's emergency services. "Up to this moment out of the 32 people who are under the rubble, the bodies of 16 people were found with no signs of life," RIA cited the emergency services spokesperson as saying. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican police and soldiers on Wednesday captured Omar Trevino Morales, widely considered to be the most important leader of the Zetas drug cartel that once carved a path of brutal bloodshed along the country's northern border with the U.S., a federal official said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18401[/attach] The United States said Wednesday tough challenges remained to seal a nuclear deal with Iran, vowing not to be distracted by external politics in its quest to stop Tehran acquiring the atomic bomb. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif wrapped up three days of "intense" nuclear negotiations in the Swiss lakeside town of Montreux with still no deal, as a March 31 deadline for a framework agreement looms. "We've made some progress from where we were and important choices need to be made," Kerry told reporters after the talks, with a senior State Department official adding that "tough challenges" had yet to be resolved. Speaking a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stridently criticised an agreement he said would not stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, Kerry stressed that the purpose of negotiations was to "get the right deal, one that can withstand scrutiny". Continue reading...

[attach=full]18400[/attach] PARIS (AP) — England is running short of legends. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18399[/attach] GENEVA (AP) — Automakers have found their swagger again after years of worrying about making cars cheaper and more fuel efficient. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18389[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — The world's oldest person says 117 years doesn't seem like such a long time. Continue reading...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has demanded the extradition of a suspected Iranian Sunni militant arrested over the weekend in a lawless border area in neighboring Pakistan, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18388[/attach] MONTREUX, Switzerland (AP) — A senior U.S. official spoke of some progress Wednesday in reaching a nuclear deal with Iran but tamped down expectations of a formal, preliminary deal this month outlining constraints on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18387[/attach] By Yara Bayoumy and Stephen Kalin CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's cabinet approved a long-awaited draft law on investment on Wednesday, aimed at making deals less vulnerable to legal disputes or changes in government, and reducing stifling bureaucracy. The government is seeking to address foreign business concerns before an investment conference in Sharm el-Sheikh set for mid-March, when Egypt hopes to secure domestic and foreign investment of up to $12 billion. Announcing the new law, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said in a statement the government held discussions with investors, an industry association, law advisors and members of civil society when drawing up the legislation. It will now be referred to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for ratification. Continue reading...