Shark attacks: Two children were victims of shark attacks that occurred within 90 minutes of each other in North Carolina
'I saw someone carry this girl (out of the water) and people were swarming around and trying to help,' he said. 'It was quite terrible. na who send them to go side where shark they, please comment my great people, see more photos.
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| The first bite took place at Ocean Crest Fishing Pier, with crews
responding near the Ocean Crest Motel, and 90 minutes later the next
attack occurred two miles east |
This is the
shocking moment migrants surround a passenger coach as they tried to
smash their way into the back of a lorry before boarding a ferry at
Calais bound for the UK.
The dramatic footage was filmed by passengers, who were travelling from the French port town to Dover.
As
vehicles begin to queue up as they enter the port, one of the
passengers on the coach begins filming as a large group of migrants
approach their coach and one of the lorries.
Around 2,500 migrants, mostly from Sudan, Eritrea and Syria, live in a makeshift tent village in Calais known as 'the jungle'.
Some have said the situation is so appalling they would prefer to die trying to escape it and sneak into Britain.
Meanwhile
last month, drivers from Maru International haulage company began
boycotting Calais because they fear 'somebody will be killed' by illegal
immigrants desperate to get into the UK.
Michael
Pearson, a driver for the Yorkshire-based company, explained how he was
'frightened for his life' by migrants, who he saw breaking into the
truck in front of him with a crowbar.
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| One man manages to climb inside the truck and on to its freight while another hangs on to the door and tries to pull himself up |
Former US Governor of Florida Jeb Bush speaks to journalists during his visit in Tallinn, Estonia, Saturday, June 13, 2015, the once-bleak Soviet state of Estonia, that is now a growing free-market economy. Jeb Bush will be spending a week traveling through three nations, as he considers his widely anticipated announcement of his candidacy for the Republican candidate to run for president.
eb Bush strolled the halls of the Polish parliament,
praised Germany's economic boom since the fall of the Berlin Wall and
visited Estonia, a once-bleak Soviet state that now has a growing,
free-market high-tech economy.
The former Florida governor, who's set to enter the 2016 presidential
race Monday, never mentioned his brother. In the U.S., Jeb Bush
routinely expresses his love and respect for his brother, former
President George W. Bush, who left office largely unpopular with many
Europeans, mostly due to his decision in 2003 to invade Iraq.
In Europe, Jeb Bush tried to walk a path that recalled his father, former President George H.W. Bush, vice president under Ronald Reagan and commander in chief when communism receded. "Think about how much change has taken place in these years," Jeb Bush said. "It's a good reminder that we're a lot freer than we were, and we need to protect that freedom. And that's why the United States needs to be engaged."
A statue of Reagan adorns the tree-lined grounds near the Polish parliament building, which Bush visited on Thursday for meetings with government leaders. Bush said people told him during the trip that in 1987, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush gave a nationwide speech in Poland from Krakow that was uncensored, unheard of at the time in a nation still governed by a communist government.
In a 1989 visit to Poland, the elder Bush said it was the West's goal to "forge closer and enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe." He returned in 1992, not long after the country's first free presidential election in six decades, received a hero's welcome and promised that the U.S. would help the young democracy "to succeed and to prosper."
If the goal was to stoke memories of his presidential father and avoid those of his presidential brother, it seems to have largely succeeded. "If you think about, in terms of history, my dad's managing — in cooperation with great leaders of his time ... the fall of the Soviet Union. It's been talked about at every stop we've made," Jeb Bush said Friday.
In Europe, Jeb Bush tried to walk a path that recalled his father, former President George H.W. Bush, vice president under Ronald Reagan and commander in chief when communism receded. "Think about how much change has taken place in these years," Jeb Bush said. "It's a good reminder that we're a lot freer than we were, and we need to protect that freedom. And that's why the United States needs to be engaged."
A statue of Reagan adorns the tree-lined grounds near the Polish parliament building, which Bush visited on Thursday for meetings with government leaders. Bush said people told him during the trip that in 1987, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush gave a nationwide speech in Poland from Krakow that was uncensored, unheard of at the time in a nation still governed by a communist government.
In a 1989 visit to Poland, the elder Bush said it was the West's goal to "forge closer and enduring ties between Poland and the rest of Europe." He returned in 1992, not long after the country's first free presidential election in six decades, received a hero's welcome and promised that the U.S. would help the young democracy "to succeed and to prosper."
If the goal was to stoke memories of his presidential father and avoid those of his presidential brother, it seems to have largely succeeded. "If you think about, in terms of history, my dad's managing — in cooperation with great leaders of his time ... the fall of the Soviet Union. It's been talked about at every stop we've made," Jeb Bush said Friday.
Supporters of Tariq Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle, hold the Iraqi flag and portraits of him outside the Arab Medical Center, where his body was brought from Iraq, in Amman, Jordan, early Saturday, June 13, 2015. Aziz died June 5 at age 79. He had been in prison in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and suffered a series of strokes. He faced execution for his role in a government that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Jordan's government agreed to a request by Aziz's family to bury him in Jordan.
Tariq Aziz was laid to rest Saturday after a ceremony in his honor at a church in the Jordanian capital, Amman, eight days after the debonair Iraqi diplomat died in prison of a heart attack.
Hundreds of Iraqis and Jordanians attended the church services of Aziz, the only Christian in Saddam Hussein's inner circle, at St. Mary of Nazareth church in Amman. "You had frightened your enemies when you were free, and you had frightened them even after your soul left your body which had suffered from the prison's darkness," said Aziz's daughter, Zeinab, speaking at the ceremony.
People search for survivors under the rubble of houses destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in the old city of Sanaa, Yemen, Friday, June 12, 2015.Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels and their allies in Yemen destroyed historic houses on Friday in the center of the capital, Sanaa, a UNESCO world heritage site. Rescue teams digging through the debris pulled the bodies of six civilians from under the rubble..see more photo.
The bombing drew swift condemnation from the U.N. cultural agency, whose chief expressed sorrow at the loss of human life and the destruction of priceless architectural heritage. Initially, local residents believed the warplanes had targeted a house occupied by a senior rebel commander, but officials and witnesses later said there were no Shiite rebels among the victims.
The impact of the missiles flattened at least three houses and caused cracks in surrounding buildings, which are cemented to one another, leaving large sections of the old city's district at the risk of collapse.
At a destroyed four-story building, an Associated Press reporter saw a pile of bricks, dust and wood mingled with clothes, kitchenware and water tanks, which are traditionally kept on roofs. An adjacent three-story building was split in half, wooden window frames dangling from the upper floors. Rescue workers were covered with dust as they searched for victims.
Most of the old city's three-to-four-story buildings had been emptied out weeks ago, as their residents left in fear of the airstrikes. The Saudi-led coalition launched the campaign in March, in an effort to halt the power grab by Yemen's Shiite rebels, known as Houthis.
Mohammed al-Raddni, a neighbor whose grandfather lives next door to one of the destroyed buildings, said those killed in Friday's airstrikes included three women and two men, one of whom was a doctor. A 16-year-old teenager remains under the rubble, said al-Raddni.
Ever since the great Maps debacle of iOS 6, Apple has been trying to gain lost ground to the competitors it suggested against its own native app. But can transit directions and indoor mapping be enough?
The WWDC keynote on Monday included a very significant update to Apple’s Maps app in iOS 9: mass transit directions.
Starting this fall, we’ll be able to use Maps to figure out a route to our destination that includes buses, subways, trains, even ferries. And it’s been a long time coming. Since 2012—when Google Maps was kicked to the curb in iOS 6—Apple Maps has had a tab suggesting third-party apps (like Google Maps...) to get public transportation routes. The transit update in iOS 9 marks an important step for Apple and its Maps service not having to rely on third parties to provide such a core smartphone functionality. It took them three years.
You’d think that after all this time Maps would have an expansive network of public transportation schedules and routes, but this feature is only available in select cities, including just 10 in North America and Europe.
It’s not shocking that Apple is taking its sweet time in creating a competitive Maps app. Cupertino is not fond of speed as much as precision. Apple says that Maps will one day be so accurate, it’ll tell you which subway entrance is best to take. Apple has started to send out its own fleet of vehicles to collect detailed mapping data, including Street View-style images and 3D mapping.
Beyond that, Apple is also testing self-driven robots to collect indoor mapping data of big office buildings and landmarks. The first building that Apple is looking to indoor map is the company’s new spaceship-looking headquarters.
Slow and steady seems to be Apple’s strategy in beefing up Maps, but features like transit directions and Street View are firmly in its competitor’s rearview mirror. Apple needs to pick it up a little or it could be left behind.
Johnson & Johnson starts project to prevent Type 1 diabetes
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Johnson
& Johnson has begun a research partnership to find the root cause of
Type 1 diabetes and stop the hormonal disorder in its tracks. It's the
health care giant's first project under its ambitious initiative to
prevent or at least intercept and reduce harm from many diseases.
In a
collaboration with immunologist and Washington University professor Dr.
Emil Unanue and his colleagues, researchers at J&J's Janssen
Pharmaceuticals will explore how specific immune system cells are
involved in the initiation and progression of Type 1 diabetes.
The
disease, also called juvenile diabetes, affects about 5 percent of
Americans with diabetes, roughly 1.25 million people. For reasons that
aren't clear, the immune system attacks and destroys beta cells in the
pancreas that make the hormone insulin, which is needed to convert blood
sugar into energy.
As a result, patients must take insulin every day
for life. When diabetes is poorly controlled, complications including
blindness, amputations and kidney failure can result.
German tour operator TUI Deutschland says it has canceled all excursions to Luxor for the time being, following the suicide bombing at the city's famed Karnak temple earlier in the day. The attack — the second this month at or near a major tourist attraction in Egypt — has raised concerns for the country's tourism industry.
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| A pool of blood and an abandoned sandal are seen at the site of a suicide bombing, near Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. A suicide bomber blew himself up on Wednesday just steps away from the ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor, a southern city visited by millions of tourists every year, security and health officials said. No tourists were killed or hurt in the late morning attack. |
TUI's spokeswoman Anja Braun says further measures would depend on guidance issued by the German foreign ministry. She added that the resort Red Sea city of Hurghada has been by far the most important destination for German TUI customers.
On Wednesday morning, a suicide bomber targeted the temple of Karnak in Luxor. Police shot dead one of two suspected militants who arrived at the scene with the suicide bomber. The second was wounded and is in police custody.
No tourists were hurt and the temple was not damaged. __ 15:00 (1300 GMT) The director of the Karnak temple in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, Mohammed Abdel-Aziz, says the ancient monument sustained no damage from the suicide bombing earlier in the day.
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| Blood
stains are seen on the sign for a men's bathroom, at the site of a
suicide bombing, near Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt, Wednesday, June 10,
2015. A suicide bomber blew himself up on Wednesday just steps away
from the ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor, a southern city visited by
millions of tourists every year, security and health officials said. No
tourists were killed or hurt in the late morning attack. |
Abdel-Aziz told The Associated Press that the "temple is safe and unaffected and visitors continue to arrive." Mohammed Othman, deputy director of the local association of tour operators, says four groups of foreign tourists visited the temple after the late Wednesday morning attack, in which four people were wounded.
He said it was a "wake up call" for the government to tighten security around touristic sites. The Interior Ministry, which is in charge of security, said one of the two suspected militants who arrived at the site with the bomber was captured after he was wounded.
The ministry says the second man was shot dead by police. __ 12:30 (1030 GMT) The governor of the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, Mohammed Sayed Badr, says that no tourists were hurt in the suicide bombing outside the famed Karnak temple.
He told The Associated Press over the phone that the attack was "an attempt to break into the temple of Karnak. They didn't make it in." Badr says three suspected militants carrying bags got out of a car in the temple's parking lot. Police were immediately suspicious and ordered them to stop.
What!!! A Spainish Guy Naked Him Self
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| Tourists walk on the street at the resort of Magaluf, in Calvia town, on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Magaluf, the super popular Spanish resort notorious for the alcohol binges and drunken misbehavior of foreign tourists _ mostly young Britons _ is hoping a package of new municipal regulations will help clean up its image. |
Tourists walk on the street at the resort of Magaluf, in Calvia town, on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Magaluf, the super popular Spanish resort notorious for the alcohol binges and drunken misbehavior of foreign tourists _ mostly young Britons _ is hoping a package of new municipal regulations will help clean up its image.
Calvia, the town that governs Magaluf, issued the package of directives Tuesday, giving police the powers to break up groups drinking in public areas between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., and limiting the sale of alcohol to bars and restaurants between midnight and 8 a.m.
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| Tourists stand on the street at the resort of Magaluf, in Calvia town, on the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Magaluf, the super popular Spanish resort notorious for the alcohol binges and drunken misbehavior of foreign tourists _ mostly young Britons _ is hoping a package of new municipal regulations will help clean up its image. |
Holidaymakers not on the sea front or around pools must cover their torsos with T-shirts at least, while those caught urinating in public areas can face hefty fines. Companies organizing pub crawls, in which groups of tourists pay a set fee to visit several bars in a row, will be allowed to run only one event a day and for a maximum of 20 people. Bars are also ordered to prevent clients taking drinks beyond the boundaries of their premises.
On Tuesday night, police patrolling the resort stopped people breaching the new laws but made no detentions. Many bar and shop owners said they were unhappy with the new restrictions as they feared they would affect their income.
As the stock market climbs ever higher, professional investors are warning that companies are presenting misleading versions of their results that ignore a wide variety of normal costs of running a business to make it seem like they're doing better than they really are.
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| Specialist Michael Pistillo watches his screens at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. As the stock market climbs ever higher, professional investors are warning that companies are presenting misleading versions of their results that ignore a wide variety of normal costs of running a business to make it seem like they’re doing better than they really are. |
What's worse, the financial analysts who are supposed to fight corporate spin are often playing along. Instead of challenging the companies, they're largely passing along the rosy numbers in reports recommending stocks to investors.
"Companies are tilting the results," says fund manager Tom Brown of Second Curve Capital, "and the analysts are buying it." An analysis of results from 500 major companies by The Associated Press, based on data provided by S&P Capital IQ, a research firm, found that the gap between the "adjusted" profits that analysts cite and bottom-line earnings figures that companies are legally obliged to report, or net income, has widened dramatically over the past five years.
At one of every five companies, these "adjusted" profits were higher than net income by 50 percent or more. Many more companies are in that category now than there were five years ago. And some companies that seem profitable on an adjusted basis are actually losing money.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. After the dot-com crash of 2000, companies and analysts vowed to clean up their act and avoid highlighting alternative versions of earnings in a way that could mislead investors.
But Lynn Turner, chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission at the time, says companies are still touting "made-up, phony numbers" as much as they did 15 years ago, perhaps more, and few experts are calling them out on it.
"The analysts aren't doing enough to get behind the numbers that management gives them to find out what's really going on," Turner says. Offering an alternative view of profits that leaves out various costs is not new. It's perfectly legal, and sometimes helpful as a tool for investors to gain insight into how a business is doing.
But with stocks breaking record after record and the current bull market entering its seventh year, there's more money riding on the assumption that the earnings figures being touted by companies and analysts are based on sound calculations.
"The longer the rally, the bigger the downside because of all the smoke and mirrors," says money manager John Del Vecchio, co-author of "What's Behind the Numbers?" a book on how profit reports can mislead.
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| German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, speaks with U.S. President Barack Obama during a concert at the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, Sunday, June 7, 2015. The two-day summit will address such issues as climate change, poverty and the situation in Ukraine. |
The talks in the majestic Bavarian Alps coincided with the delicate debate in Washington over giving Obama the authority to move trade agreements through Congress more quickly.
In addition to the summit events at Schloss Elmau, a one-time artist retreat turned luxury spa, Obama met privately with British Prime Minister David Cameron and joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel for beer and sausages in a nearby town.
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| From left, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Japanese President Shinzo Abe, French President Francois Hollande, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, European Council President Donald Tusk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Barack Obama, walk to a family photo during the G-7 summit at Schloss Elmau hotel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, Sunday, June 7, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT |
Obama and his advisers voiced confidence in the trade push, but the effort faces a deeply uncertain future. The president's own Democratic Party is largely opposed to legislation that allows Congress to reject or approve, but not change, trade deals negotiated by the administration. In an unusual political role reversal, the president's reservoir of support has come from his Republican opponents.
OMG, 400 still missing from capsized cruise ship in china
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| Rescuers work at the site of the overturned passenger ship in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei Province. Hopes dimmed Wednesday for rescuing more than 400 people still trapped aboard the capsized river cruise ship that overturned in stormy weather about 36 hours earlier, as hundreds of rescuers searched the Yangtze River site in what could become the deadliest Chinese maritime accident in decades. (Xiao Yijiu/Xinhua via AP) NO SALES |
Hopes dimmed Wednesday for rescuing more than 400
people still trapped in a capsized river cruise ship that overturned in
stormy weather, as hundreds of rescuers searched the Yangtze River site
in what could become the deadliest Chinese maritime accident in decades.
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| Chinese soldiers ride their boats to the embankment after their search and rescue operation near a capsized cruise ship on the Yangtze River in Jianli in central China's Hubei province, Tuesday, June 2, 2015. Divers on Tuesday pulled several survivors from inside the capsized cruise ship and searched for other survivors, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy. |
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| Rescuers help lift a survivor pulled from the capsized cruise ship on the Yangtze River in Jianli in central China's Hubei province Tuesday June 2, 2015. Divers on Tuesday pulled survivors from inside the overturned cruise ship, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy with well over 400 people still missing on the river. (Chinatopix Via AP) CHINA OUT |
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| A crane is positioned near a capsized ship on the Yangtze River in Jianli in central China's Hubei province Tuesday June 2, 2015. Divers on Tuesday pulled three people alive from inside an overturned cruise ship and searched for other survivors, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy with well over 400 people still missing on the Yangtze River. (Chinatopix Via AP) CHINA OUT |
State media reported that rescuers heard people yelling for help within the overturned hull, and divers on Tuesday rescued a 65-year-old woman and, later, two men who had been trapped. CCTV said more people had been found and were being rescued, but did not say whether they were still inside the overturned hull.
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| Chinese soldiers ride aboard boats to the embarkment after their search and rescue operation near a capsized cruise ship on the Yangtze River in Jianli in central China's Hubei province, Tuesday, June 2, 2015. Divers on Tuesday pulled several survivors from inside the capsized cruise ship and searched for other survivors, state media said, giving some small hope to an apparently massive tragedy. |
The yelling was heard Tuesday, and it is not known if any sounds were heard Wednesday. CCTV said rescuers would possibly support the ship with a giant crane while they cut into portions of the hull. Thirteen navy divers searched the boat Tuesday, and military authorities said an additional 170 would arrive by Wednesday to vastly expand the pace of those efforts.
Access to the site of the site was blocked by police and paramilitary troops stationed along the Yangtze river embankment. Scores of trucks belonging to the People's Armed Police were parked along the verge and at least two ambulances were seeing leaving the area with their lights on and sirens blaring.
Huang Delong, a deck hand on a car ferry crossing the Yangtze several kilometers (miles) upstream of the site, said he was working Monday evening when the weather turned nasty. "From about 9 p.m. it began raining extremely hard, then the cyclone hit and the wind was really terrifying," Huang said while crossing the broad river in a steady drizzle Tuesday afternoon.
Huang said he thought it was the worst disaster on that stretch of the river — the world's third-longest river — in living memory. The official Xinhua News Agency said the sinking could become the country's worst shipping accident in seven decades.
"We will do everything we can to rescue everyone trapped in there, no matter they're still alive or not, and we will treat them as our own families," Hubei military region commander Chen Shoumin said at a news conference shown live on CCTV.
The survivors included the ship's captain and chief engineer, both of whom were taken into police custody, CCTV said. Relatives who gathered in Shanghai, where many of the tourists started their journey by bus, questioned whether the captain did enough to ensure the passengers' safety and demanded answers from local officials in unruly scenes that drew a heavy police response.
Xinhua quoted the captain and the chief engineer as saying the four-level Eastern Star sank quickly. The Communist Party-run People's Daily said the ship sank within two minutes. The overturned ship then drifted about 3 kilometers (almost 2 miles) downstream before coming to rest close to shore
A helicopter takes off at the General Hospital in Geneva
A helicopter takes off at the General Hospital in Geneva,
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A helicopter takes off at the General Hospital in Geneva, Switzerland, Sunday, May 31 2015. Secretary of State John Kerry broke his leg in bike crash outside of Geneva on Sunday and called off the rest of a four-nation |
Kerry is in stable condition in a Swiss hospital after suffering a leg injury. read more
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| U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, rides a bike after a bilateral meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister in Lausanne, Switzerland. Kerry is in stable condition in a Swiss hospital after suffering a leg injury in a bike crash outside Geneva Switzerland on Sunday, May 31, 2015. (Jean-Christophe Bott,Keystone via AP, |
The State Department says Secretary of State John Kerry's orthopedic surgeon is flying to Geneva to accompany Kerry back to the U.S. for treatment of his broken leg.
Spokesman John Kirby said Monday that Dr. Dennis Burke will accompany Kerry on his flight to Boston so he can monitor Kerry's condition and "ensure he remains comfortable." Kerry, 71, fractured his right femur Sunday when he struck a curb with his bicycle and fell on a regular Tour de France route southeast of Geneva. He has been receiving treatment at Geneva's main medical center, HUG.Babatunde Fashola this morning handed over to the new governor of Lagos state, Akinwunmi Ambode. More exclusive photos after the cut...
Nigerians will not regret giving us their mandate - Buhari
he said this will be tackled head on. He said the group is a group of small fire causing a big fire. He said the Command and Control center of the Nigerian Army will be in Maiduguri Borno state until Boko Haram is defeated.
He said his government will do everything within its power to rescue the Chibok girls. He said the Federal government will commission a study that will determine the origin, sponsors and foreign collaborators of Boko Haram once they have been subdued.
He said nobody belongs to him and he does not belong to anybody. He said unemployment, particularly youth unemployment will be addressed. He said relationship between the state and the Federal government must be clarified to serve Nigeria better. He said states are Independent but the Federal government cannot close its eyes when they go wrong. He said he will operate according to the constitution.
He acknowledged the support of the Labor, Private sector and press and Civil Society Organization. He appealed to the media, particularly the social media to be responsible in the discharge of its service.
He said it is a national shame that a country of over 120 million generates only 4000MW of electricity.
He said his government will revive Agriculture, Mining and provide investments for SMEs. He said asides Boko Haram, kidnapping and other vices will be addressed. He appreciated all those who participated in campaigning for him.
Photos: President Buhari rides in the presidential G-Wagon
Dear Nigerians, meet our new president, Mohammadu Buhari (pics)
Mohammadu Buhari has been sworn-in as the president of Nigeria! Congrats to him. More photos after the cut...
..and so we have a new president. More photos after the cut...
Photos: As former President Jonathan leaves and Buhari takes over
the new administration. More photos after the cut...
A masked demonstrators stands on a barricade in the Cibitoke neighborhood of Bujumbura
Nkurunziza's decision to delay the elections followed requests from the electoral commission, opposition politicians and the international community, said Nyamitwe.
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| Demonstrators climb onto a container used as a barricade in the Cibitoke neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, Tuesday May 19, 2015. Protesters have been demonstrating for the last three weeks opposing the president's bid for a third term. |
The postponement comes after a failed coup last week which was triggered by weeks of unrest over Nkurunziza's effort to extend his time in power. Police were back on the streets Wednesday battling protesters, who have continued to demonstrate despite Nkrurunziza's order for an end to the street actions.
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| Demonstrators climb on a tree that has been cut down to use as a barricade in the Cibitoke neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, Tuesday May 19, 2015. Protesters have been demonstrating for the last |
At least 15 protesters have died since the protests began more than three weeks ago when the ruling party announced Nkurunzinza would stand for another term.
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| Police chase demonstrators in the Musaga neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, Wednesday May 20, 2015. Police returned to the neighborhood in full force Wednesday, firing live rounds and tear gas to disperse |
On Wednesday police shot tear gas canisters and live bullets, some from belted machine guns, mostly in the air, in the unrest hotspot of Musaga, a neighborhood of the capital, Bujumbura. Army personnel remained in the area did not intervene.
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| Demonstrators face off with police in the Musaga neighborhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, Wednesday May 20, 2015. Police returned to the neighborhood in full force Wednesday, firing live rounds a |
A protester who identified himself only as Ndayisaba said he was shot in his leg. "I was in the frontline of the protests and then felt something warm trickling down my leg and I realized I had been shot," he said while being treated in a local clinic.
Honirine Irakoze said her 20-month-old child became choked from police tear gas. Police chasing stone-throwing protesters shot tear gas which went into her house, she said. Protesters say Nkurunziza's bid for a third term in the June 26 presidential election is illegal because the constitution only allows two five-year terms.
Representatives of Amnesty International and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has shepherded a shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine, visited the men Tuesday and found them apparently in reasonable condition.
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| Reporters look at the TV screen showing Alexander Alexandrov, a Russian Army soldier who was captured by Ukrainian military near the front line town of Shchastia in the Luhansk region, before a press |
"I got professional medical aid, surgery. To my relatives, I want to say everything is fine with me, I'm alive and well," said one, who identified himself as Yevgeny Yerofeyev, a captain in the Russian army.
"I'm missing my family and relatives so much," the other, Sgt. Alexander Alexandrov, told reporters who accompanied the international representatives. In video statements posted by the Ukrainian Security Service, the men say they were taking part in a reconnaissance operation in the Luhansk region Saturday when they were fired on, wounded and captured.
Both say they were members of an army brigade based in the Russian city of Togliatti and had been deployed in Ukraine for more than a month; Smirnov said he was part of a battalion of 220 soldiers.
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| Alexander Alexandrov, who says he is a sergeant with the Russian special forces from the Volga River city of Togliatti, lies in a military hospital bed, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, May, 19, 2015. Two wounded Russian |
Throughout the yearlong fighting in eastern Ukraine in which at least 6,100 people have died, Russia has consistently denied assertions from Kiev and the West that Moscow is providing soldiers and equipment to back up the pro-Russia rebels.
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| Captain Yevgeny Yerofeyev of the Russian special forces lies in a military hospital bed, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, May, 19, 2015. Two wounded Russian soldiers captured while fighting in war-torn eastern Ukraine have |
The statements by Yerofeyev and Alexandrov directly challenge that denial.
"We're dealing with real soldiers of the armed forces of the Russian Federation," said Ukrainian Security Service spokesman Markiyan Lubkivskiy. Both the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry reject the assertion that Yerofeyev and Alexandrov are Russian soldiers.
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| Captain Yevgeny Yerofeyev of the Russian special forces covers his face by his hand as he lies in a military hospital bed, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, May, 19, 2015. Two wounded Russian soldiers captured while |
A Defense Ministry spokesman said Monday that they were former soldiers; Russia has said that any Russians fighting in Ukraine are there only as volunteers.
It remains unclear what measures Moscow will take for the two hospitalized men. Lubkivskiy said that as of Tuesday, "we did not get any request from the Kremlin or the Russian Federation about captured soldiers. ... For the moment, there is no question about a transfer" of the men to Russia.
Amnesty International's Ukraine spokesman, Bogdan Ovcharuk, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the two men have asked to see the Russian consul. But no consular visit has been reported.
In Washington, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. continues to be disappointed by "Russia's destabilizing activity in Ukraine," including the flow of Russian materiel and troops across the border. He said the U.S. and its European partners were resolute about the economic sanctions they have imposed on Russia. Earnest added that Russia's actions would be discussed when U.S. and G-7 the leaders meet in Germany next month.
Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian military analyst, suggested that Russia may try to work out an exchange for the two. Ukraine has repeatedly called for the release of Nadezhda Savchenko, a military officer jailed in Russia for nearly a year on charges that she aided a mortar attack that killed two Russian journalists in Ukraine.
Felgenhauer also told The Associated Press that "The only person who could really make a decision to declassify any Russian involvement in Donbass (eastern Ukraine) is President Vladimir Putin." In Samara, the capital of the Russian region that includes Togliatti, residents appear willing to believe their government's claim that the only Russians fighting in Ukraine are volunteers.
"I support those who voluntarily go to the Donetsk People's Republic and fulfill their mission," said resident Vladimir Stolyarov, using the name of one of Ukraine's two self-declared separatist governments.
Saudi led airstrikes in Yemen
As thousands of rebel supporters streamed into the streets of Sanaa, the capital, to protest the coalition airstrikes, fighting raged in the southern and western cities of Taiz, Dhale and Aden. Airstrikes meanwhile targeted the rebels, known as Houthis, in the northern province of Saada, the group's heartland, as well as Aden.
A boy and his sisters watch graffiti artists spray on a wall, commemorating the victims who were killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, May 18, 2015. Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Yemen's
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| Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks with reporters after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, |
Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks with reporters after his meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam, at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon,
The cease-fire had been repeatedly violated, with the Houthis, and Saudi-backed forces loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi trading blame for the continued violence.
Dozens of politicians and tribal leaders have been holding talks in the Saudi capital to discuss a way out of the crisis, but the rebels boycotted the meeting and Iran, which supports the Houthis, objected to the venue.
The coalition accuses Shiite-majority Iran of arming the Houthi rebels as part of a larger struggle with Sunni Saudi Arabia over regional influence, something the Islamic Republic and the rebels deny.
The Riyadh dialogue is set to conclude Tuesday. The Houthis reject the main aim of the talks — the restoration of Hadi, who fled the country in March in the face of rebel advances — and their location in Saudi Arabia, which since March 26 has been leading an air campaign against the Houthis and allied military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The truce appears to have allowed the Houthis and their allies to deploy more troops to Aden, where there has been heavy fighting for weeks. Hadi had declared a temporary capital in the southern city before he fled. The Houthis captured Sanaa last year.
The Houthis and allied forces took over the southern city of Lawdar last week, which would allow them to funnel forces into Aden from the north. Witnesses said the rebels detained dozens of pro-government militiamen in Lawdar and destroyed their houses.
The witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because of security concerns. In Dhale, another gateway to Aden, pro-government militia commander Ahmed Harmel said fierce clashes raged overnight.
In Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, street battles raged throughout the cease-fire. Medical officials there said more than 41 civilians have been killed and 230 wounded over the past month. They blamed most of the deaths on what they said was random shelling on residential areas by Houthis and allied forces.
Coalition airstrikes meanwhile struck rebel positions, artillery pieces and tanks in several neighborhoods of Aden after the cease-fire expired at 11 p.m. (2000 GMT) Sunday, Yemeni security officials said. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.
The Houthis reported continuing airstrikes in their northern heartland of Saada near the Saudi border, which has come under heavy bombardment in recent weeks as the rebels have staged cross-border attacks.
From his exile in Riyadh, Yemen's Foreign Minister Riad Yassin told the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya network Monday that there are no ongoing talks to renew the humanitarian pause, which he said the Houthis had violated.
Also on Monday, Ali Akbar Velayati, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters during a visit to Beirut that a dialogue on Yemen should be mediated by an international organization, such as the United Nations, and held in a "neutral country."
Describing the Saudi-led airstrikes as "savage," Velayati said the kingdom was too deeply involved in the conflict to host peace talks. "A national dialogue should be held ... in a neutral country that has no links to Riyadh or other sides who are part of the conflict," Velayati said.
Yemen's conflict has killed more than 1,400 people — many of them civilians — since March 19, according to the U.N. The country of some 25 million people has endured shortages of food, water, medicine and electricity as a result of a Saudi-led blockade. Humanitarian organizations had been scrambling to distribute aid before the end of the truce.
Ordinary people help migrants as Asia
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| Ethnic Rohingya men queue up for registration at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia, Monday, May 18, 2015. Boatloads of more than 2,000 migrants — ethnic Rohingya Muslims fleeing |
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| An Acehnese man carries boxes of mineral water to be distributed to ethnic Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants at a temporary shelter in Langsa, Aceh province, Indonesia, Monday, May 18, 2015. |
The desperation of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh has not compelled neighboring countries to take them in, but has inspired compassion — and pleas for help — from ordinary people across Southeast Asia.
Sympathetic Malaysians have launched donation drives to help feed migrants who have flooded ashore in the past two weeks. In Indonesia, where fisherman rescued three boats last week and saved 900 lives, villagers have donated clothing and home-cooked meals.
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