WorldNews

[attach=full]18340[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — Former champion Jeonbuk Motors maintained its unbeaten run in the Asian Champions League by beating Shandong Luneng 4-1 Tuesday. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — The South African sports minister has accused FIFA of being "very inefficient" in match-fixing investigations. Continue reading...

By Ayman al-Warfalli BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Rival Libyan forces carried out tit-for-tat airstrikes on oil terminals and an airport on Tuesday, escalating their battle for control of the country days before United Nations peace talks were due in Morocco. The OPEC oil producer's oil installations and other key infrastructure are increasingly a target in the conflict which pits two rival governments and their armed forces against each other, nearly four years after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni's internationally recognized government and elected parliament have been operating from the east since rival Libya Dawn forces took over Tripoli in the summer and set up their own administration. A warplane belonging to Tripoli-allied forces bombed the oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Es Sidra, causing only minor damage, according to a security official with Thinni's government. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18338[/attach] Student protesters calling for education reform said Tuesday that riot police have ordered them to disperse within hours after surrounding them near a monastery in central Myanmar. Some 300 young activists -- many sporting bandanas with the fighting peacock symbol of student protest -- remained encircled by police armed with sticks who have trapped them outside a monastery compound in the town of Letpadan since Monday. Their protest is illegal in Myanmar, where almost half a century of military rule ended only in 2011. The group has been given a deadline of 4pm local time (0930 GMT) to call off their protest, according to student leader Min Thwe Thit. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18337[/attach] ISLAMABAD (AP) — India's foreign secretary arrived in Pakistan on a two-day visit Tuesday, marking the first high-level meeting since talks broke down between the two nuclear-armed rivals last year. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18336[/attach] A coalition of environmental groups sued the Port of Seattle on Monday to stop the lease of a terminal to Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Arctic oil drilling fleet, arguing a proper environmental review was never conducted, court records showed. Earthjustice, along with other groups including the Sierra Club, filed the suit in a Washington state court, alleging the drilling operation was substantially different from the terminal's prior use, meaning an environmental review had to be done under state law. The complaint against the port and Foss Maritime Co, which would work for Shell under the two-year lease, also alleged that officials reached the arrangement without public disclosure and that the fleet could pollute the area's water. "We have received a shoreline substantial development permit exemption from the City of Seattle for this use," Port of Seattle spokesman Peter McGraw said in a statement, adding that officials had not yet reviewed the suit. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18335[/attach] Barclays fell into a net loss last year, the British bank said Tuesday, hit by huge costs linked to its alleged role in the rigging of foreign exchange markets. Barclays reported a loss after tax of £174 million ($268 million, 239 million euros) for 2014 compared with a net profit of £540 million the previous year. It has set aside £1.25 billion "for ongoing investigations and litigation relating to Foreign Exchange", including £750 million for the final quarter of 2014, the bank said in an earnings statement. Barclays had announced in October a provision of £500 million for any eventual costs and fines linked to the probes. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18334[/attach] (Reuters) - Ben Carson, a retired surgeon popular with Tea Party conservatives, has formally created an exploratory committee to run for president, according to his campaign chief executive, Terry Giles, the Wall Street Journal reported. With the exploratory committee, Carson can raise money that he can transfer to his campaign once it begins, the Journal said. Carson, a former neurosurgeon at Maryland-based Johns Hopkins University, has no prior political experience. Continue reading...

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The chief of presidential security under former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was shot to death Monday in the capital, where he had lived since returning to the country after finishing a prison sentence in the United States. Continue reading...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Tony award winner Lea Salonga says talks have not yet been finalized on her joining the cast of George Takei's musical "Allegiance" on Broadway, but added it is a show she wants to be part of. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — For the third time in less than a month, the Mexican government has condemned the killing of one of its citizens by police in the United States. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18326[/attach] BEIJING (AP) — A slick new documentary on China's environmental woes has racked up more than 175 million online views in two days, underscoring growing concern in the country over the impact of air, water and soil pollution. Continue reading...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A 28-year-old Italian tourist was killed in Alaska when he was crushed by a chunk of ice that broke from a glacier, authorities said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18318[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — High-end smartphones from Samsung and HTC have gotten much of the attention at this week's wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, but cheaper options are coming from Microsoft, Lenovo and others too. Meanwhile, Google and Facebook are working on giving people more ways to use those devices. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18317[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — For the first time since its dot-com era peak nearly 15 years ago, the Nasdaq composite has closed above 5,000. Continue reading...

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia was expected to confirm Tuesday an increase in troops to be sent to Iraq to help train Iraqi security forces to fight the Islamic State group. Continue reading...

Restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba and opening embassies in each other's capitals can be done before a summit in Panama on April 10 if there is will on both sides, a senior State Department official acknowledged on Monday after two rounds of talks. "We believe reestablishment of diplomatic relations and opening of embassies should be done together," the official told Reuters. A senior Cuban official said earlier Cuba was willing to reestablish diplomatic relations with Washington as soon as the Obama administration declares its intent to take the country off a list of state sponsors of terrorism. Continue reading...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's Senate speaker said Monday that Russia's authorities have denied him entry into the country for the funeral of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. Continue reading...

By Caroline Stauffer and Marcelo Teixeira SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Striking truck drivers resumed some roadblocks in Brazil on Monday, disrupting grain and meat shipments to southern ports even as the government cracked down on protesters and promised to give new benefits to the transport sector. By mid-afternoon there were 23 road blockages in three southern states, down from 99 points nationwide a week ago, the federal highway police said. The country's No. 3 soy exporting port of Rio Grande, in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, said 70 percent of its operations were affected. Brazil exported just 869,000 tonnes of soybeans last month, 69 percent less than in February 2014, the data showed. Continue reading...

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic say four people from the U.S. drowned in an incident along the country's eastern coastline. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18312[/attach] BAGHDAD (AP) — Backed by Iranian-supported Shiite militias, Iraqi forces launched a large-scale offensive Monday to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the Islamic State group, the first in a series of campaigns to try to reclaim large parts of northern Iraq from the Sunni extremists. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18311[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is not planning to march in the nation's biggest and oldest St. Patrick's Day parade unless its organizers change their limitations on displays of gay pride. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18310[/attach] BRUSSELS (AP) — The United Nations is urging donors, organizations and countries fighting Ebola in West Africa not to give in to complacency as the death toll from the virus climbs toward 10,000. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18301[/attach] The US and Russian foreign ministers expressed cautious optimism after holding talks in Geneva Monday to end fighting in Ukraine, where the UN says more than 6,000 people have died in less than a year. The meeting between John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov in Geneva was just one of several attempts at mediation on the conflict Monday, as high-stakes talks to resolve a bitter gas dispute between Kiev and Moscow were also due in Brussels. Speaking separately after their 80-minute meeting, Kerry and Lavrov both cautiously said a February 15 ceasefire was on the right track, despite repeated breaches of the peace deal that have left hundreds dead. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18300[/attach] Swaziland police club Royal Leopards caused a CAF Confederation Cup sensation with the weekend elimination of South Africans club Wits. Clashes between South African and Swazi clubs are traditionally mismatches as there is a gulf in football standards between the neighbouring countries. Unfashionable Johannesburg-based Wits are riding high at home, sharing second place in the league table with Mamelodi Sundowns. The policemen held their nerve in the shootout and when South African Kabelo Paseka fluffed his penalty, Wits were out. Continue reading...