World News

US retail chain Target said Tuesday it would slash thousands of jobs as it restructures to save $2 billion over the next two years More »

A US Justice Department investigation has found patterns of racial bias in the police department in Ferguson, Missouri, officials said. The findings follow a months-long probe launched in the wake of the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white officer. The investigation found that officers in the St Louis suburb disproportionately used excessive force against blacks and too often charged them with petty offences, law enforcement officials told the AP news agency. The report alleges direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers, an official told AP. More »

France cast doubt Tuesday on whether a UN plan to freeze fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo will materialize, and blamed the Damascus regime for the setback. More »

WASHINGTON (AP) — Saying every girl "has value," President Barack Obama announced a more focused government effort Tuesday to help tens of millions of girls around the world attend and stay in school. Michelle Obama said she's heading to Japan and Cambodia later this month to promote it. More »

Security sources say troops have seized towns and villages along the way to Tikrit, capital of Salahuddin province. More »

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iranian-backed Shiite militias and Sunni tribes have joined Iraq's military in the operation to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the Islamic State group, but the U.S.-led coalition has not. More »

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian judge Tuesday ordered the deportation of former Italian militant Cesare Battisti, reversing a 2010 ruling granting him asylum in Latin America's biggest country. More »

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accused his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of backing extremism as he met Tuesday with visiting Turkish opposition figures. More »

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Seeking to fan agriculture exports to Cuba, a Minnesota House panel took initial steps Tuesday to spend state money on promoting the shipment of goods to the island nation amid improving relations with the United States. More »

Meeting of world leaders in Brussels aims to mobilise efforts to end infections in Africa. More »

NEW YORK (AP) — Certain that they are right, struggling to find ways to get their message across, public health officials are exasperated by their inability to persuade more U.S. parents to vaccinate their children. More »

Ubisoft on Tuesday unveiled a tablet video game crafted as a prescription for a medical condition known as "lazy eye," blending the worlds of play and health care. More »

Slovenia's parliament voted Tuesday to legalise same-sex marriages and grant such unions equal rights to those of heterosexual couples. More »

SUNNYSIDE, Wash. (AP) — Environmental officials say spilled oil has covered 50 birds after as much as 1,500 gallons of used motor oil leaked into irrigation canals and a river in an agricultural area of south-central Washington. More »

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet's popularity has plunged to the lowest level of her current administration, a poll found Tuesday after a scandal erupted over a loan to her son's family. More »

The number of Spaniards who said they started using cannabis in 2013 outnumbered those who said they took up smoking cigarettes, according to a government study released Tuesday. More »

MEXICO CITY (AP) — President Enrique Pena faced new pressure Tuesday, this time on his choices for attorney general and Mexico's highest court. More »

By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday said he was "revolted" by the looming execution of two convicted Australian drug traffickers as preparations were under way to move the men to an island where they will be shot. The planned executions of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, have ratcheted up diplomatic tensions amid repeated pleas of mercy for the pair. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has adopted a tough stance on carrying out harsh penalties for drug traffickers. Widodo has denied clemency to 11 convicts currently on death row, including the Australian nationals, and warned other countries to stay out of Indonesia's sovereign affairs. More »

Bitterly admitting defeat, the Republican-controlled Congress sent legislation to President Barack Obama on Tuesday that funds the Department of Homeland Security without any of the immigration-related ... More »

Cesare Battisti was arrested in Brazil in 2007 pending an extradition request from Italy that was upheld by the Supreme Court but denied by former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his last day in office in 2010. In a decision handed down last Thursday but only made public on Tuesday, federal judge Adverci Mendes de Abreu annulled the work visa that Battisti was granted by Brazil's government in 2011. More »

By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A formal announcement on outlawing the Haqqani militant network, which has been responsible for numerous attacks on U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, it still under consideration, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States said on Tuesday. Pakistani officials said in January that Islamabad had decided to outlaw the militant group and that a formal announcement would come "within weeks". "These are the kind of issues that are in the works, I would say," Jalil Abbas Jilani said at a Washington media roundtable organised by the Christian Science Monitor newspaper, when asked when a formal announcement would be made. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Pakistan in January to fight groups that threaten Afghan, Indian and U.S. interests. More »

A Russian lawyer for Edward Snowden said on Tuesday the fugitive former U.S. spy agency contractor who leaked details of the government's mass surveillance programmes was working with American and German lawyers to return home. In Washington, U.S. officials said they would welcome Snowden's return to the United States but he would have to face criminal charges which have been filed against him. Snowden's lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, who has links to the Kremlin, was speaking at a news conference to present a book he has written about his client. There is a group of U.S. lawyers, there is also a group of German lawyers and I'm dealing with it on the Russian side." The United States wants Snowden to stand trial for leaking extensive secrets of electronic surveillance programmes by the National Security Agency (NSA). More »

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's impassioned speech Tuesday in the US Congress impressed many Israelis in Jerusalem but drew criticism from others who said he was interfering in American affairs. More »

The cost-cutting forms a key plank of a revival plan outlined by Chief Executive Officer Brian Cornell, who is seeking to narrow the retailer's focus to a handful of key product lines and bolstering its online business to rejuvenate sales. "Cutting complexity at headquarters will make us more competitive," he said. More »

The proliferation of new narcotics developed to circumvent existing drug laws poses a serious health problem, the United Nations drugs control body said on Tuesday. More »

February threw snowstorms and other roadblocks at the auto industry, but U.S. sales of new cars and trucks are still poised to hit their highest level in more than a decade this year. Freezing temperatures, ... More »

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. John Danforth denounced the ugly nature of American politics Tuesday while eulogizing Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, suggesting that political bullying and an anti-Semitic whisper campaign led his friend to kill himself. More »

Harsh winter storms chilled US auto sales in February, with Ford especially taking a hit with a surprise 1.9 percent fall while Toyota grabbed the number-two spot after GM More »