WorldNews

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice will convene a meeting on Thursday with her European counterparts to discuss Russia's actions in Ukraine. Rice will meet with representatives from Italy, France, the UK and Germany to discuss future costs they might impose on Russia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Thursday. (Reporting by Julia Edwards and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Susan Heavey) Continue reading...

[attach=full]18107[/attach] Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan arrives in Cuba on Thursday to help prod negotiators from the Colombian government and leftist guerrillas to clinch a peace agreement. The 2001 Nobel Peace Prize winner will meet with both delegations, after declaring in Colombia that any peace agreement must be just, and must meet the standards of the international community. "Transitional justice is an issue of concern and controversy in Colombia," Annan said Wednesday, referring to truth-seeking, reparations to victims and accountability for crimes. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18106[/attach] WINTERBERG, Germany (AP) — Elana Meyers Taylor and pushing partner Cherrelle Garrett of the United States held a comfortable lead after the first two women's bobsled heats at the world championships on Thursday. Continue reading...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is backing efforts by South American nations to re-launch a dialogue between Venezuela's government and opposition following new reports of violence. Continue reading...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A lawyer says Maldives' former president has denied in court that he ordered the arrest of a top judge three years ago. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18099[/attach] French President Francois Hollande and Philippine leader Benigno Aquino appealed Thursday for urgent global action on climate change, seeking to build momentum for a planned historic accord at a UN summit in Paris. On the first day of Hollande's visit to the Philippines, the leaders offered a show of unity they said could serve as a model for rich and poor nations who have long been divided over how to tackle climate change. "We have a duty to act together and that's why I came here to the Philippines, to launch an appeal, to seal an alliance," Hollande told a business forum ahead of his joint appeal with Aquino. Hollande is due to host the United Nations' summit in December aiming to seal a global pact that would save the world from the catastrophic impacts of climate change. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18098[/attach] JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Carley Petesch, a longtime editor in Africa who has reported from Nigeria and South Africa for The Associated Press, has been named a West Africa correspondent for the news organization. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18097[/attach] Nearly all California voters believe the state's water shortage is a serious problem, though they were split on whether environmental protection should be rolled back in response, according to a Field Poll released on Thursday. Winter storms that dropped up to a foot (30 cm) of rain on parts of California have modestly eased the dry conditions, according to U.S. drought experts, but the relief only put a dent in the drought entering its fourth year. Respondents in northern California, the Central Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area were more likely than their southern California counterparts to say the problem was extreme. The poll surveyed 1,241 registered voters in California from late January to mid-February by phone. Continue reading...

By Mahmoud Mourad and Omar Fahmy CAIRO (Reuters) - Two Egyptian policemen accused of killing a lawyer in custody were detained on Thursday on the orders of an Egyptian prosecutor, judicial sources said, a rare action against members of the security forces. The officers, a lieutenant colonel and a major, will be held for four days pending investigations in to the death of Karim Hamdy on Tuesday, sources at the prosecutor's office said, and could be charged with murder. They carried pictures of him and chanted "the Interior Ministry are thugs". Hamdy was arrested at his home on charges of taking part in anti-government protests organized by the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that the army removed from power in mid-2013. Continue reading...

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The African Union chairwoman is "safe and sound," the organization said on Thursday, after leaked intelligence documents revealed a 2012 plot to assassinate her. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18089[/attach] SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea has told rival South Korea that it plans to unilaterally raise the minimum wage for North Koreans employed by southern companies at a jointly run industrial park starting in March, officials said Thursday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18088[/attach] BEIJING (AP) — With his latest political exhortation, President Xi Jinping is asserting his influence and advancing his agenda in a time-honored tradition among Chinese leaders. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18087[/attach] The chief executive of Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered will step down in June, the company said Thursday, following poor results, job cuts and fines for failing to detect possible money-laundering. "Peter Sands will stand down from the Board and as Group Chief Executive in June 2015," the British bank said in a statement, adding that he would be replaced by former JP Morgan co-CEO Bill Winters. The bank's chairman John Peace praised Sands, who became the group's chief executive in 2006, saying that he had presided "over a period of huge change and challenge for the entire industry". The bank, which focuses on emerging markets, was under pressure from shareholders and the move was welcomed on the London stock exchange where its shares jumped 1.36 percent to 938.90 pence at 0900 GMT. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18086[/attach] TOKYO (AP) — Britain's Prince William is having afternoon tea on his first visit to Japan on Thursday, but it's green and served by a master in the Japanese ceremonial art in a traditional tea house. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18085[/attach] One person was killed in a bombing outside a pizzeria in the Egyptian capital Thursday as other blasts hit a police station and offices of cell phone companies, a health official said. The bomb tore off the legs of the victim who was pronounced dead in hospital, health ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel Ghaffar told AFP. Hours later, an explosion outside a police station in the north of the capital wounded a police conscript and three passersby, police officials said. Bombs also went off outside two offices of British telecoms firm Vodafone and a branch of United Arab Emirates-owned Etisalat, damaging the store fronts but causing no casualties, interior ministry spokesman Hany Abdel Latif told AFP. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18084[/attach] Seductive for batsmen, challenging for bowlers and frustrating for captains, Auckland's Eden Park takes centre-stage on Saturday with the ground's peculiar dimensions proving the major talking point for New Zealand and Australia. With the boundary at just 55 metres at both ends and 65m on the square -- much shorter than the International Cricket Council regulations of 64m minimum (straight) -- the ground is exempt from current size demands as Eden Park has been staging international cricket since before 2007. As a result, the compact, diamond-shaped ground means the Pool A clash between co-hosts New Zealand and Australia should be ripe for big scoring. Explosive batsmen such as Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Aaron Finch and Mitchell Marsh on one side and Brendon McCullum, Martin Guptill, Corey Anderson and Luke Ronchi on the other will strive to match them shot for shot in front of a 40,000 sell-out. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18083[/attach] NEW DELHI (AP) — On Wednesday, a court in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for Khaleda Zia, the opposition leader whose political feud with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has dominated the country's politics for more than a decade. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18082[/attach] SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday on upbeat corporate earnings and rising Chinese factory output after the chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve said it will be patient about increasing interest rates. Continue reading...

TOKYO (AP) — Britain's Prince William is set to have afternoon tea, but it will be green served by a master in the Japanese ceremonial art in a traditional tea house. Continue reading...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Australia and New Zealand players are trying to tone down the rhetoric around their impending clash at the Cricket World Cup, stressing that the hype around Saturday's game is attaching too much importance to a pool match. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18073[/attach] LONDON (AP) — Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran each won a pair of prizes Wednesday at Britain's leading music awards — but it took Kanye West to introduce some edge, with a song that proved too strong for television. Continue reading...

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — A former U.S. defense contractor accused of sending sensitive information about U.S. military jet programs to his native Iran in an effort to land a job there pleaded guilty on Wednesday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18072[/attach] British singers Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith took two prizes each at a glittering Brit Awards on Wednesday marred by a mishap that saw Madonna dragged to the ground by her cape. Sheeran won British male solo artist and album of the year for "x", while 22-year-old Londoner Smith won British breakthrough act and global success award after his debut album "In the Lonely Hour" won worldwide acclaim. "This is incredible, I really didn't expect this," Smith told the crowd, while Sheeran called it a great night for British music that defied those who said "selling records is dead". As pop veteran Madonna took to the stage flanked by muscled male dancers wearing horns, her long black cape caught and dragged her down a set of stage steps in a dramatic fall. Continue reading...

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — A former Bosnian prison camp guard living in the U.S. is eligible for extradition to his native country to face war-crimes charges, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. Continue reading...

BRUSSELS (AP) — Despite stern talk and solemn pledges from NATO, a British-based think tank says some alliance member nations are cutting their spending on defense. Continue reading...