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Helicopter attacks Venezuela’s Supreme Court

CARACAS – A Venezuelan police helicopter attacked the Supreme Court on Tuesday, ratcheting up a political crisis in what President Nicolas Maduro condemned as a “terrorist” attack. The 54-year-old socialist leader, who has faced three months of opposition protests as well as dissent from within government, said the helicopter shot at the judicial building and also threw some grenades. Witnesses reported hearing several detonations in downtown Caracas, where the pro-Maduro Supreme Court, the presidential palace and other key government buildings are located.
Scotland postpones second independence vote until after Brexit

EDINBURGH – Scotland’s secessionist leader on Tuesday postponed plans for a second independence referendum until the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union (EU) are clear. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was putting on hold plans to introduce legislation that would have demanded a second referendum. Sturgeon, whose Scottish National Party wants to break Scotland’s 300-year-old union with England, had been seeking a referendum in late 2018 or early 2019, ahead of Britain’s EU exit which is due in March 2019.
California to add ingredient in weed killer to cancer-causing list

GLYPHOSATE, a herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto Co’s popular Roundup weed killer, will be added to California’s list of chemicals known to cause cancer effective July 7, the state’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) said on Monday. Monsanto vowed to continue its legal fight against the designation, required under a state law known as Proposition 65, and called the decision “unwarranted on the basis of science and the law”. The listing is the latest legal setback for the seeds and chemicals company, which has faced increasing litigation over glyphosate since the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said that it is “probably carcinogenic” in a controversial ruling in 2015.
Former Brazilian Finance Minister sentenced to 12 years for corruption

Brazilian court yesterday sentenced former finance minister Antonio Palocci to 12 years in prison for corruption and money laundering
Search continues for missing after Colombia tourist boat accident

RESCUE WORKERS SEARCHED on Monday for 13 people believed to be missing after a tourist boat sank the previous day in a reservoir in north-central Colombia, killing seven. The cause of the accident was still unclear, officials said. Use of the Penol-Guatape reservoir, a popular site for water-sports and tours, was restricted as the search continued. The boat, El Almirante, was carrying about 150 passengers, officials said. Reports of the dead and missing have varied since the accident on Sunday afternoon. Authorities had initially said more than 170 people were onboard.
Asylum seekers in Canada who fled Trump now trapped in legal limbo

TORONTO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Thousands of people who fled to Canada to escape President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal migrants have become trapped in legal limbo because of an overburdened refugee system, struggling to find work, permanent housing or enrol their children in schools. Refugee claims are taking longer to be completed than at any time in the past five years, according to previously unpublished Immigration and Refugee Board data provided to Reuters. Those wait times are set to grow longer after the IRB in April allocated “up to half” of its 127 tribunal members to focus on old cases. The number of delayed hearings more than doubled from 2015 to 2016 and is on track to increase again this year.
Frustration mounts at site of landslide

MAO COUNTY – Frustration grew on Monday among family members of victims of a landslide that buried a mountain village in southwestern China, with some complaining about a lack of information and asking why they had not been moved from an area prone to land slips. At least 93 people remain missing, along with 10 confirmed dead, after a landslide crashed down on the village of Xinmo, in mountainous Sichuan province, as dawn broke on Saturday. The government has sent some 3 000 rescuers, along with equipment, to the area and has promised to do all it can to look for survivors while restricting access for safety reasons.

Since Brexit vote, Europeans warm again to EU

16 June 2017

EUROPEANS THINK MUCH better of the EU now than they did a year ago when Britons dealt the Union a heavy blow by voting to leave, a survey showed on Thursday. Support surged by 18 percentage points in both Germany and France, which just elected europhile centrist... Read More

Trump to limit Cuba travel, restrict business deals with military

15 June 2017

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Friday will tighten rules on Americans travelling to Cuba and significantly restrict US companies from doing business with Cuban enterprises controlled by the military, according to US officials who have seen a draft presidential... Read More

UK to hold inquiry into London apartment block fire as death toll rises to 17

15 June 2017

LONDON – British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday promised a public inquiry into a fire that gutted a 24-floor apartment block killing at least 17 people, as the government faced questions about how such a devastating blaze could have occurred. Smoke was still... Read More

Cosby sex assault jury hears accuser's testimony again

14 June 2017

NORRISTOWN, PA. – The jurors deciding comedian Bill Cosby's fate at his sexual assault trial delved into his accuser's account on Wednesday, their third day of deliberations. The court reporter read back portions of Andrea Constand's trial testimony describing how... Read More

Four killed including gunman in San Francisco UPS facility shooting

14 June 2017

SAN FRANCISCO – A man dressed in a UPS uniform and armed with an “assault pistol” opened fire at a United Parcel Service Inc. package sorting hub in San Francisco, killing three people before turning the gun on himself, police said. Police did not identify the suspect... Read More

Top Republican wounded in shooting of US lawmakers; gunman dead

14 June 2017

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – A gunman wielding a rifle opened fire on Wednesday on Republican US lawmakers practicing near Washington for a charity baseball game, wounding senior Republican leader Steve Scalise and several others before being fatally shot by police. The... Read More

Venezuelan groups broadcasting ‘live’ on buses

14 June 2017

CARACAS – Riding public transport armed with a wobbly TV-shaped cardboard frame and loud voices, a group of young Venezuelan activists have found a novel way to transmit news, in a country where space has shrunk for stories about hardship and protests. Traditional... Read More

Fire engulfs London tower block, at least six dead, more than 70 injured

14 June 2017

LONDON — Fire engulfed a 24-storey housing block in central London in the early hours on Wednesday, killing at least six people and injuring 70 others in an inferno that trapped residents as they slept. Flames raced through the high-rise Grenfell Tower block of... Read More

US blames North Korea for hacking spree, says more attacks likely

13 June 2017

WASHINGTON/TORONTO – The US government on Tuesday issued a rare alert squarely blaming the North Korean government for a raft of cyber-attacks stretching back to 2009 and warning that more were likely. The joint alert from the US Department of Homeland Security and... Read More

Senate panel to question Sessions on Russia, Comey

13 June 2017

UNITED STATES ATTORNEY General Jeff Sessions will face questions on Tuesday about his dealings with Russian officials and whether he intentionally misled Congress as a Senate panel investigates alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. Even before... Read More

Brexit worsens nursing shortage in England

13 June 2017

LONDON – The number of European Union (EU) nurses registering to work in Britain has dropped by 96 per cent since July last year, the country’s Health Foundation said on Monday, in what it described as a wake-up call to politicians. Critics of Brexit have said the... Read More

Record low turnout hangs over Macron's expected win in parliament

12 June 2017

PARIS – President Emmanuel Macron and his supporters will seek to "restore the trust" of the French people after a record low turnout in the first round of the parliamentary election, Macron's government spokesman said on Monday. Fewer than half of all registered... Read More

Britain, US deny Trump state visit delayed

12 June 2017

LONDON – Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said on Sunday there had been no change to plans for US President Donald Trump’s to come to Britain on a state visit, after the Guardian newspaper reported the trip had been postponed. The paper, citing an unidentified... Read More

US joins battle as Philippines takes losses in besieged city

11 June 2017

MARAWI CITY, Philippines – US Special Forces have joined the battle to crush Islamist militants holed up in a southern Philippines town, officials said on Saturday, as government forces struggled to make headway and 13 marines were killed in intense urban fighting.... Read More

Fears of a delayed Brexit after shock election result

10 June 2017

BRUSSELS – European Union (EU) leaders fear Prime Minister Theresa May’s shock loss of her parliamentary majority raises the risk of failure in Brexit negotiations due to start this month that will usher Britain out of the EU in March 2019. There was concern that... Read More

Trump scolds Qatar as Tillerson seeks to ease crisis

10 June 2017

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Qatar of being a “high level” sponsor of terrorism, potentially hindering the US Department of State’s efforts to ease heightening tensions and a blockade of the Gulf nation by Arab states and others. “The... Read More

May to form fragile government after UK election debacle, uncertainty over Brexit talks

09 June 2017

LONDON -British Prime Minister Theresa May will form a government supported by a small Northern Irish party after her Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in an election debacle days before talks on Britain's EU departure are due to begin. A stony-faced... Read More

British politics in ferment as exit poll shows May failing to win majority

08 June 2017

LONDON – Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party will fail to win a parliamentary majority in Britain's election, according to an exit poll on Thursday, a shock result that would plunge domestic politics into turmoil and could delay Brexit talks. The exit... Read More

Comey says Trump fired him to undermine FBI, Russia investigation

08 June 2017

WASHINGTON – Former FBI director James Comey on Thursday accused President Donald Trump of firing him to try to undermine the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign team and Russia. In the most eagerly anticipated US... Read More

Cosby lawyers seek to paint accuser as opportunist

08 June 2017

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania – Bill Cosby’s lawyers sought on Wednesday at his criminal trial to portray the woman accusing him of a 2004 sexual assault as an opportunist who pursued the comedian’s affections before going after his money. Phone records showed Andrea... Read More

Trump picks white-collar crime lawyer to replace Comey at FBI

07 June 2017

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump on Wednesday ended a fraught month-long search for an FBI chief after firing James Comey by selecting Christopher Wray, who has prosecuted and defended white-collar crime cases and represented New Jersey's governor in a political... Read More