News: World/Latin America

Venezuela aid shipments: what we know

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 23:39:06Z

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's promise to bring in US humanitarian aid on Saturday has raised tensions in his standoff with President Nicolas Maduro. This includes 300,000 tonnes already stockpiled in the Colombian city of Cucuta. As well as Cucuta, Guaido says aid will transit to Venezuela from the Brazilian state or Roraima and the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles, near the Venezuelan coast.

Customers angry that disabled Walmart greeter could lose job

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 23:02:53Z

Pretty much anyone who shops at the Walmart in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, knows store greeter Adam Catlin, who's been welcoming customers with a huge smile and a hearty hello for more than a decade.

Jussie Smollett Now Considered a Suspect for Allegedly Filing a False Hate-Crime Report

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 22:52:14Z

Embattled Empire actor Jussie Smollett is now considered a "suspect" for filing a false police report, evidence of which has been presented before a grand jury, a Chicago Police Department spokesman announced on Wednesday.> Case Update: Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury. pic.twitter.com/FhDcbBKsuU> > -- Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 20, 2019The announcement came after Smollett's attorneys met with prosecutors and detectives on Wednesday. Smollett initially told police that...

Newport Beach cold case: Suspect ID'd in 11-year-old Linda O'Keefe's murder after arrest in Colorado

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 21:42:48Z

Authorities on Wednesday identified the suspect who has been arrested in the 1973 murder of an 11-year-old girl in Newport Beach.

French TV cuts Facebook live feed from Jewish cemetery after anti-Semitic abuse

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 21:40:56Z

"Our country is confronted with a resurgence of anti-Semitism undoubtedly without precedent since the Second World War," President Emmanuel Macron said later on Tuesday in an annual speech to Jewish leaders in France. France 3 television said it went live from the first cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim on Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron was visiting to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse. "We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including "Heil Hitler", "dirty Jew" or "dirty Jews", comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the...

Arrests made in decades-old killings of 2 California kids

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 20:36:59Z

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Authorities said Wednesday that they solved two decades-old cold cases that stunned Southern California, arresting suspects in the separate killings of a boy and a girl who disappeared while walking home from school.

Netanyahu makes deal with far-right party ahead of Israeli election

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 19:54:31Z

The deal, announced by Netanyahu's Likud and the ultranationalist Jewish Home party, was aimed at solidifying a potential right-wing coalition after the April 9 parliamentary election. Opinion polls predict Netanyahu's Likud will win the most parliamentary seats and will be in a position to form a governing coalition of rightist and religious parties similar to the one he now heads. Gantz and Lapid met on Wednesday, with speculation high they could strike a deal.

Russia Threatens to Target U.S. if Trump Admin. Deploys Missiles in Europe

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 19:25:59Z

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that Russia would target the U.S. if America deploys missiles in Europe."Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons which can be used not only in respect of those territories from which the direct threat to us originates, but also in respect of those territories where the centers of decision-making are located," Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address."It's their right to think how they want. But can they count? I'm sure they can. Let them count the speed and the range of the weapons systems we are developing," he added.The warning comes after the U.S. pulled out of the Intermediate-range...

Saudi to free 850 Indian prisoners from its jails: India government

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 18:31:00Z

Saudi Arabia will release 850 Indians from its prisons after a request from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to New Delhi, India's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Saudi jails hold the greatest number of Indians incarcerated in any country abroad. As of January 2019, 2,224 Indians were jailed in the kingdom for crimes including murder, kidnapping, bribery, cheating, and offences related to drugs and alcohol, according Indian Foreign Ministry figures.

Russia must build own internet in case of foreign disruption: Putin

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 18:03:21Z

Russia must prepare for possible Western attempts to deny it access to the global internet by creating its own self-sufficient 'segments' of the web, President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying on Wednesday by Russian news agencies. "I think, they (foreign countries) will think through carefully before doing it, but there is a theoretical possibility (of Russia being cut off from the internet), and that's why we should create segments that don't depend on anyone," Tass quoted Putin as saying. Putin's comments came days after Russian lawmakers backed tighter internet controls to defend against foreign meddling.

The Latest: Court records say 2 knew man wanted fiancee dead

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 17:46:28Z

DENVER (AP) - The Latest on the criminal cases tied to a Colorado woman's death (all times local):

Abbas says will reject reduced tax reimbursement from Israel

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 17:02:30Z

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Wednesday he would not accept partial payment of tax transfers owed by Israel, which decided to withhold reimbursements in retaliation for payments to prisoners jailed for attacks. "We shall not accept the (tax) money if it is not paid in full," Abbas told a central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Israel's security cabinet on Sunday approved the freezing of $138 million (122 million euros) over the Palestinian Authority's payments to prisoners jailed for attacks on Israelis.

ACLU on border wall 'emergency': We'll see you in court, President Donald Trump

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 16:59:38Z

Donald Trump's emergency declaration is a blatant abuse of power in the service of his anti-immigrant agenda. No president has ever tried this before.

Palestinian leader will refuse Israeli tax transfers

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 15:41:36Z

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday said he will not accept regular monthly tax transfers from Israel if it carries out its decision to deduct amounts the Palestinians pay to the families of prisoners and people killed in fighting with Israel.

First lawsuit filed in Covington Catholic case, student seeking $250M from the Washington Post

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 15:37:55Z

The defamation lawsuit filed on behalf of Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann alleges the teen has suffered permanent harm to his reputation as a result of the paper's malice; Doug McKelway reports.

Obama joined by Curry to tell minority boys 'you matter'

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 15:21:46Z

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Former President Barack Obama and Golden State Warriors superstar Stephen Curry told a roomful of minority boys on Tuesday that they matter and urged them to make the world a better place.

Afghanistan rebukes Pakistan ambassador in ripple effect from Kashmir attack

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 15:05:41Z

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the Pakistani ambassador on Wednesday over his remarks that Afghan peace talks could be affected if India resorted to violence after last week's attack on Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir. In a statement issued after the meeting with Ambassador Zahid Nasrullah, the Foreign Ministry said it deemed his comments to be "in contradiction with Pakistan's commitments with regards to realizing peace in Afghanistan". Tensions between India and Pakistan have risen sharply since the suicide bomb attack in the disputed Kashmir region, which the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group claimed responsibility for.

Cardinals blame 'homosexual agenda' for abuse crisis

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 14:29:23Z

Two cardinals criticised on Wednesday Pope Francis's approach to the clerical paedophilia crisis, saying "abuse of power" was not to blame but homosexuality. "We turn to you with deep distress! The Catholic world is adrift," US Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke and German Cardinal Walter Brandmueller said in an open letter to the heads of the bishops' conferences. "Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism.

Designer Karl Lagerfeld to be cremated without ceremony

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 14:05:01Z

Karl Lagerfeld will be cremated without ceremony and his ashes are likely to be scattered with those of his mother and lover, his label said Wednesday. "His wishes will be respected," a spokeswoman for his Karl Lagerfeld brand told AFP a day after the legendary designer died at the age of 85. Lagerfeld had previously said that his ashes would be mixed with those of his longtime lover, the French dandy Jacques de Bascher, who died of AIDS in 1989.

Museum for fallen border patrol agents vandalized in Texas

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 13:28:42Z

The National Border Patrol Museum in Texas has been vandalized by dozens of protesters leading a confrontational demonstration, according to the director. National Border Patrol Council vice president and Border Patrol agent Hector Garza reacts.

3 Conservative U.K. Lawmakers Defect to New Independent Group Over 'Disastrous Handling of Brexit'

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 12:50:51Z

The trio accused the Conservative Party of abandoning the political center ground

As Maduro holds on, Venezuela opposition eyes negotiated transition

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 12:06:32Z

Last month, Venezuelan opposition leader and Congress chief Juan Guaido invoked the constitution to assume the interim presidency after declaring Maduro's reelection in May 2018 illegitimate. In an effort to secure the backing of Venezuela's military, Guaido proposed an amnesty for officers who turn on Maduro's government. Amid fears the changes have stalled, opposition leaders have begun to talk in the past week about bringing ruling Socialist Party stalwarts into a potential transition government.

Palestinian president rejects tax money from Israel

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 10:26:41Z

The Palestinian Authority (PA) will no longer accept tax revenues collected on its behalf by Israel following its decision to trim the sum over the PA's financial support of militants' families, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said. The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, an interim self-government body set up following the 1993 Oslo peace accords, has suffered a series of financial blows in the past year. Under interim peace deals, Israel collects taxes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip and makes monthly payments to the PA, which says it receives around $222 million each month.

Shamima Begum: Being stripped of my British citizenship is hard to swallow and unjust

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 10:10:37Z

Shamima Begum, the Isil bride, has described being stripped of her British citizenship is "unjust" and "hard to swallow" after she was shown the Home Office's documentation of the decision.  The 19-year-old, who had expressed the desire to return to the UK with her newborn son, was banned on Tuesday from entering the country. At a refugee camp in northeastern Syria, she was shown the Government's letter, showing that she is no longer a British national.  "I don't know what to say," she told ITV News. "I am not that shocked but I am a bit shocked. It's a bit upsetting and frustrating. I feel like it's a bit unjust on me and my son." She added:...

Saudi Prince Pledges to Help India Fight Terror

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 09:50:18Z

"Terrorism is a common concern and Saudi Arabia will cooperate with India in fighting it, including in matters like intelligence sharing," Prince Mohammed said in a press statement alongside Modi in New Delhi. The comments were part of the Saudi royal's delicate diplomacy, as he visits both nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors amid heightened geopolitical tensions.

Snow, sleet, heavy rain hits every state east of the Mississippi River

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 08:53:00Z

A winter storm that began Tuesday continued to hit every state east of the Mississippi River on Wednesday, bringing snow, rain, ice and a wintry mix.

Local leaders react to Trump administration's termination of high-speed rail funds

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 07:24:36Z

Governor Gavin Newsom is accusing the President of political retribution after the Trump administration canceled nearly a billion dollars in federal grant money for California's high-speed rail project.

Video showing boy in wheelchair jump on trampoline goes viral

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 06:04:00Z

A viral video of a little boy in a wheelchair jumping on a trampoline with his coach is warming hearts around the world.

Trump nominates successor to one-time head of Russia probe

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 04:51:37Z

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was nominating a successor to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, a move that confirms the departure of the Justice Department official who until recently oversaw the Russia probe. Rosenstein will be replaced by Jeffrey Rosen, the current deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, President Donald Trump's spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Speed record set for Boeing 787 thanks to powerful jet stream

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 04:29:43Z

FAST LANE IN THE SKY: A powerful jet stream helped a Boeing 787 Dreamliner break a speed record for that plane clocking in at 801 miles per hour.

Mariano Rivera calls child support allegations 'unfounded'

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 03:40:57Z

PANAMA CITY (AP) - Just weeks after becoming baseball's first unanimous Hall of Fame selection, Mariano Rivera is defending himself from accusations in his native Panama that he has failed to support two children he had outside his marriage.

Trump v California: president wants to get billions in rail funding back

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 02:26:29Z

The Federal Railroad Administrator has determined that the California High-Speed Rail Authority 'has materially failed to comply with the terms' of the construction agreement. The US Department of Transportation has announced plans to cancel $929m in federal grant funds for California's high-speed rail project, in a move the state's governor called "political retribution" for its lawsuit against Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency.

Teenager in Lincoln Memorial protest sues Washington Post for $250 million

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 01:53:57Z

A high school student from Covington, Kentucky, sued the Washington Post for defamation on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper falsely accused him of racist acts and instigating a confrontation with a Native American activist in a January videotaped incident at the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Kentucky by Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann, 16, seeks $250 million in damages, the amount that Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com and the world's richest person, paid for the Post in 2013. The lawsuit claims that the newspaper "wrongfully targeted and bullied" the teen to advance its bias against President Donald Trump because Sandmann...

Ford pulls out of S. America truck business, closes Brazil plant

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 01:32:01Z

US automaker Ford said Tuesday it was pulling out of the commercial heavy truck business in South America, closing a plant in Brazil employing 2,800 workers that has been operating for half a century. The decision was made "as part of a comprehensive redesign of its global business," and after it decided that other options, such as partnerships, would not be viable, Ford said in a statement. The affected factory, in Sao Bernardo do Campo south of the megacity Sao Paulo, makes Cargo-model heavy trucks, F-4000 and F-350 pickup trucks and Ford Fiesta small cars.

How the border wall battle could hurt the economy

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 01:00:53Z

Sixteen states that joined in the first of a string of expected lawsuits overPresident Donald Trump's national emergency maneuver to fund a southern borderwall could

10 Non-Hybrid Crossovers and SUVs That Get 30 MPG or More

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 00:37:00Z

The 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider Is a Windy Version of the 600LT Coupe

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-20 00:01:00Z

Carbon fiber allows McLaren to shave the top from its utterly insane coupes without consequence. We drive the latest deroofed McLaren.

Police: Shooter targeted 3 victims in gated LA community

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-19 23:22:46Z

LOS ANGELES (AP) - One of three men who were shot to death at a home in a gated Los Angeles community likely allowed the shooter inside, authorities said Tuesday.

Venezuela shuts sea, air links to Dutch islands amid turmoil

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-19 23:13:41Z

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan officials said Tuesday that the country is banning air and sea trips to and from three Dutch Caribbean islands - a region that has been linked to efforts to undermine President Nicolas Maduro by sending emergency aid to the South American nation.

See Photos of the 2020 Mercedes-Benz SL Grand Edition

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-19 23:01:00Z

Cuba denies military in Venezuela, charges U.S. readies intervention

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-19 22:52:43Z

U.S. President Donald Trump and members of the administration have charged that Cuba's security forces and military control Venezuela's and that troops are also on the ground there. "Our government categorically and energetically rejects this slander," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said at a Havana press conference, adding all of the some 20,000 Cubans in Venezuela were civilians, most health professionals. Communist-run Cuba has been a key backer of the Venezuelan government since the Bolivarian Revolution that began under former leader Hugo Chavez in 1998.

The Latest: Governor says reviewing lapse in retrieving gun

• World/Latin America
• 2019-02-19 22:14:07Z

AURORA, Ill. (AP) - The Latest on the mass shooting at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois (all times local):