Archives of North America

1. Seven months after Sandy, New York beaches re-open

   2013-05-24 22:13:04 GMT : (World/North America)

   NEW YORK: Seven months after deadly superstorm Sandy devastated the coastline of New Jersey and parts of New York, all New York City beaches opened Friday at the start of the three-day Memorial Day weekend.New York City has eight public beaches along 14 miles (23 kilometers) of coastline -- Brooklyn (southeast), Bronx (north), Queens (northeast) and Staten Island (south).Mayor Michael Bloomberg sa...

2. Talks with Israel, Palestinians ‘very productive’: Kerry

   2013-05-24 11:53:42 GMT : (World/North America)

   TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that his shuttle talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on prospects for reviving direct negotiations had been "very productive".Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv after two days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, Kerry urged both sides to refrain from provocative actions "that take us backwards" and said they should foc...

3. WikiLeaks releases transcript of critical US film

   2013-05-24 06:31:42 GMT : (World/North America)

   WASHINGTON: WikiLeaks has released an annotated version of what it says is a leaked transcript of a documentary that takes a critical look at the anti-secrecy group ahead of the film's US premiere on Friday.WikiLeaks said it had not participated in the making of "We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks," a film by Alex Gibney that focuses on the website's controversial founder Julian Assa...

4. Thunderstorms pummel US tornado disaster zone

   2013-05-23 13:41:12 GMT : (World/North America)

   MOORE: Severe thunderstorms barreled through this Oklahoma City suburb at dawn Thursday, complicating clean-up efforts three days after a powerful tornado killed 24 people and destroyed 2,400 homes.More rain was forecast to fall on Moore, soaking the disaster zone where residents had just the day before, under clear blue skies, started picking through the rubble of their destroyed houses to recove...

5. US Administration acknowledges deaths of four Americans in counter terror operations

   2013-05-23 06:27:35 GMT : (World/North America)

   WASHINGTON: The Obama administration, facing criticism for covert nature of drone operations, Wednesday for the first time publicly acknowledged that US counterterrorism operations overseas have killed four Americans since 2009.The official revelation came in a letter from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to Congress. The letter, however, does not say how the four were killed.The American media...

6. Los Angeles mayor poll too close to call

   2013-05-22 07:32:40 GMT : (World/North America)

   LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles councilman Eric Garcetti took a narrow lead in early results from a run-off election to succeed LA mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, but the race remained too close to call early Wednesday.Garcetti and City Controller Wendy Greuel, both Democrats like Villaraigosa, campaigned down to the wire after emerging from a March primary poll contested by a total of eight candidates.Short...

7. Tornado turns US Marine vet's town into 'war zone'

   2013-05-22 06:40:48 GMT : (World/North America)

   MOORE: Curtis Carver has every intention of rebuilding from scratch the house he lost in Monday's powerful and deadly hurricane that devastated this Oklahoma City suburb.But first, the construction worker and 20-year veteran of the US Marine Corps, who spent two years on active duty in Iraq, wants to recover his memories from the rubble -- and law enforcement is getting in the way."My pictures...

8. Don't pin US tornado on climate change: UN panel head

   2013-05-21 15:11:44 GMT : (World/North America)

   GENEVA: Pinning the deadly tornado in the US state of Oklahoma on climate change is wrongheaded, even though the world is set to see a rise in high-profile weather disasters due to global warming, the leader of a UN body said on Tuesday.Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said data was still coming in about Monday's massive tornado which tore thr...

9. Obama declares major disaster in Oklahoma after deadly tornadoes

   2013-05-21 06:16:47 GMT : (World/North America)

   WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in Oklahoma after deadly tornadoes struck the state on Sunday and Monday and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts, the White House said on Monday.The White House said aid can include grants for temporary housing, home repairs, uninsured property losses and other recovery efforts.Obama spoke by telephone w...

10. Obama speaks to Italian PM

    2013-05-21 06:03:04 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama called new Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta on Monday, to congratulate him after taking office after a prolonged period of political uncertainty."The president expressed support for Prime Minister Letta's focus on reducing youth unemployment and looked forward to further discussions about promoting economic growth at the June G8 Summit," a White House s...

11. Commuter trains collide in Connecticut, injuring up to 60 people

    2013-05-18 06:36:57 GMT : (World/North America)

    FAIRFIELD: A commuter train traveling eastbound from New York City derailed near the Connecticut suburb of Fairfield during the evening rush hour on Friday and collided with a westbound commuter train, injuring up to 60 people, three critically, officials said.The collision of the two Metro North trains forced Amtrak to shut down service indefinitely between New York and Boston, the national railr...

12. Lawmakers accuse IRS officials of lying in tax scandal

    2013-05-17 14:15:56 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: US lawmakers accused leaders of the Internal Revenue Service of lying on Friday as they opened the first in a series of investigative hearings about the tax collection agency's targeting of conservative groups.Republicans and Democrats said senior IRS officials should have alerted Congress last year when they found out that their examiners were singling out Tea Party groups for int...

13. Uzbek arrested on terror charges in Idaho: official

    2013-05-17 04:22:53 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: An Uzbek national was arrested in the northwestern US state of Idaho on Thursday before being charged with terrorism offences, the Justice Department said.Fazliddin Kurbanov, 30, was detained in Boise as part of a federal counterterrorism operation, before being hit with charges regarding offences in Idaho and neighbouring Utah.He was charged with conspiracy to provide material support...

14. Boston suspect wrote note before capture: report

    2013-05-17 04:16:39 GMT : (World/North America)

    NEW YORK: Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote a note before his capture in which he called the victims "collateral damage" for US action in Afghanistan and Iraq, local media reported Thursday."When you attack one human, you attack all human," Tsarnaev also scribbled on the inside wall of the boat where he hid from police during a massive manhunt in the days after the April 15 blasts, ac...

15. Man charged in New Orleans parade shooting

    2013-05-16 15:24:59 GMT : (World/North America)

    CHICAGO: A manhunt for the gunmen who opened fire at a Mother's Day parade in New Orleans where 20 people were shot has ended with the arrest of the main suspect, police said Thursday.Sunday's shooting at a crowded parade filled with families shocked the Big Easy, which is struggling to overcome what mayor Mitch Landrieu described as "the relentless drumbeat of violence" on its streets.Mos...

16. Tornadoes spin through Texas towns after dark, killing six

    2013-05-16 13:15:51 GMT : (World/North America)

    DALLAS: At least six people were killed and 100 injured when tornadoes ripped through north-central Texas after dark and authorities said the death toll could rise as rescuers search through the rubble of destroyed homes.At least three twisters were confirmed to have struck on Wednesday night, the deadliest tornadoes to hit the United States so far this year, destroying homes and uprooting trees.T...

17. Six dead in storms in Texas: reports

    2013-05-16 08:02:23 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: A powerful storm that may have spawned tornados ripped through northern Texas, killing six people and hurting more than 100, media reports said.The fatalities Wednesday night came in the town of Granbury in Hood County as the storm destroyed nearly 120 homes in one neighborhood, CNN reported, quoting county sheriff Roger Deeds.NBC news quoted him as saying 14 people were unaccounted fo...

18. US slams 'repression' in run-up to Iran polls

    2013-05-15 16:32:48 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: US officials on Wednesday slammed a campaign of "unrelenting repression" ahead of Iran's presidential elections, and said the outcome would be very hard to predict amid a secret vetting process.The future direction of the next Iranian leadership in ongoing talks with world powers about the Islamic republic's suspect nuclear program was also difficult to determine, top State Dep...

19. US media coalition protest seizure of phone logs

    2013-05-15 15:38:44 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: More than 50 US media organizations joined a protest of the US government seizure of journalist phone records from the Associated Press, describing the action as "an overreaching dragnet."The action "calls into question the very integrity of Department of Justice policies toward the press and its ability to balance, on its own, its police powers against the First Amendment rights of th...

20. Sun unleashes three potent solar flares

    2013-05-15 14:32:32 GMT : (World/North America)

    WASHINGTON: The Sun has unleashed three potent solar flares in just under 24 hours, marking the most intense activity yet this year and causing limited interruptions to high-frequency radio communications.One of them was classified as an X3.2 flare, with X-class flares being the most intense type, the US space agency said."This is the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength ...