Australia general election slated for July 2

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he will call an election within the next week. The ruling Liberal-National coalition has lost its lead against Labor in the latest polls, but hopes to cling to power. 

Australia's rightist government unveiled a budget on Tuesday, even as the premier announced he'll use a political deadlock over industrial relations to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
"You can expect there to be an election on the second of July," Turnbull said in an interview on Australia Broadcasting Corp radio, adding that he would call the poll "between now and the 11th of May."
Labor catching up?
The Liberal-National coalition, which returned to power in 2013, has lost much of its lead against the opposition Labor party in the latest polls, with the two sides now running neck-and-neck.
But Turnbull , who seized his party's top spot eight months ago, said he expected to win. That's despite a pair of scandal-driven resignations within his cabinet.
"I am quietly confident that the Australian people will give us another term in government," he told Channel 9 TV.
The government handed down its budget the same day that the Reserve Bank of Australia cut interest rates to a record low of 1.75 percent, seeking to restrain a rising currency and stem deflation.
Stalemate over construction industry watchdog
The dissolution will be triggered by a rarely invoked parliamentary procedure. The Senate blocked the government's bill aimed at re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) that was scrapped by the former Labor government.
The government claims there has been a spike in "unlawful industrial action” since the ABCC was repealed. But critics say the ABCC is used for union-busting.
Now that the bill has been rejected twice, Turnbull is empowered to dissolve parliament and call new elections. The last time Australia's elections were invoked by double dissolution was in 1987.
jar/rc

Brazil proscecutor calls for obstruction of justice probe into President Rousseff

Reports said Brazil's state attorney wants President Rousseff questioned for allegedly trying to stall a corruption investigation. She insisted the scandal would not affect the Olympics as she set off the torch relay. 

Local media reported late on Tuesday that Brazil's top prosecutor filed a request to investigate President Dilma Rousseff for possible obstruction of justice. The case would be the first time Rousseff has been directly implicated in the sprawling corruption scandal surrounding state-owned oil giant Petrobras.

This could well spell the political downfall of the president, who despite formerly sitting as chairwoman of the board, has managed thus far to avoid any graft charges related to Petrobras. Rousseff has consistently denied any wrongdoing, despite the fact that much of the billion-dollar kickback scheme happened during her tenure at Petrobras.

Some of Brazil's biggest construction executives have already been jailed and convicted for using Petrobras funds for bribes. Around 50 politicians are currently being investigated.

The president is also facing a separate impeachment process, on charges of violating budget regulations.

Rousseff: Scandal won't taint Olympics

Rousseff, however, did her best to remain upbeat as she greeted the Olympic flame on Tuesday ahead of this summer's games in Rio de Janeiro. She said that the scandal would not mar the event.

"We are experiencing political instability. We are going through a very difficult period, truly critical in the country's history and in the history of democracy," Rousseff said in the capital Brasilia, where the traditional Olympic torch relay began.

"I am certain that a country whose people know how to fight for their rights and to protect their democracy is a country where the Olympics will have great success in the coming months," she said, adding that the games would put the country's beauty on display, rather than its problems.

The torch, which arrived from the Greek site of Olympia by way of Switzerland, will now be carried by 12,000 people through 329 towns and cities before ending its journey in Rio's Maracana stadium on August 5. This will be the first Olympic Games hosted by a South American city.

es/msh (AFP, Reuters)

Obama visits Flint as questions linger on EPA role in water crisis

WASHINGTON | By Timothy Gardner 

President Barack Obama on Wednesday will visit Flint, Michigan, a city struggling with the effects of lead-poisoned drinking water, as questions linger over whether his environmental regulators could have acted more urgently to address the crisis.Obama will get updates from federal officials on the response in Flint, a mostly African-American city where more than 40 percent of the city's 100,000 people live in poverty. He will also listen to residents and speak at a high school during his visit, the first since the crisis came to light.
"Like you, I'll use my voice to call for change and help lift up your community," Obama wrote last week to Amariyanna Copeny, an eight-year-old Flint girl who has marched in protests about the crisis and had asked to meet him.
While under control of a state-appointed emergency manager in 2014, the financially-strapped city switched from Detroit's water system to the Flint River to save money. The more caustic water caused lead, a toxin that harms brain development, to leach from aging city pipes.
After blood tests of children showed high lead levels, the city switched back to Detroit's system last October but residents still must filter their water.
The White House points out that Michigan brought charges against three state and local officials last month for misleading regulatory officials and manipulating water tests. The Michigan attorney general said more charges were to follow.
Critics say the federal Environmental Protection Agency shares blame for not reacting more urgently. Susan Hedman, the EPA's Midwest chief, and an Obama appointee, resigned in February amid scrutiny for not acting quickly to a memo from agency scientist Miguel Del Toral in June 2015 that said tests showed high lead levels in water from Flint homes.
Last week, Flint residents filed a damage claim for $220 million against the EPA alleging that negligence led to the injuries of more than 500 people. The complaint cites a Del Toral memo that said it would border on criminal neglect not to warn Flint residents about lead contamination.
The EPA has said it will look into the complaint.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said in February it was joining a criminal investigation with the EPA's Office of the Inspector General and federal prosecutors in Michigan to explore whether laws were broken by a range of officials.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest has refrained from commenting at length on whether federal officials could have acted faster, citing ongoing investigations.
The EPA, which has seen its budget squeezed by Congress, acknowledges that there are issues with its lead and copper rule that need to be addressed to prevent similar crises in other cities. The agency will propose changes to the rule early next year, it says. The rule would be finalized later, likely after Obama leaves office on Jan. 20.
After Obama declared a state of emergency in January, freeing up to $5 million in funds, officials distributed water filters, clean water, and other aid. The White House also expanded access to Medicaid and urged Congress to approve more federal aid to Flint.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardner) 

U.N. peace talks on Yemen resume after three-day suspension: delegates

U.N.-backed peace talks to end Yemen's civil war resumed on Wednesday after they were suspended by the Yemeni government for three days in protest at a Houthi assault on a military base near the capital Sanaa.
Buttressed by a truce which had been largely holding since April 10, the talks in Kuwait had been inching ahead before their pause and the Houthis said Saudi Arabia had on Saturday released 40 Yemeni prisoners.
U.N. special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed tweeted a picture of delegates representing the main warring sides sitting around a U-shaped table and said talks on Wednesday would focus on cementing the shakey ceasefire.
The Iran-allied Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed exiled government are trying to broker a peace via talks in Kuwait and ease a humanitarian crisis in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, where the conflict has drawn in regional powers and killed at least 6,000 people.
A civil war in Yemen escalated when an armed push by the Houthis cast the government into exile on March 26 last year.
Fearing the Shi'ite Muslim group was a proxy for its arch-nemesis Iran, Saudi Arabia mustered an alliance of mostly Gulf Arab countries to push the group back but still appears far from beating the Houthis out of Sanaa.
Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged participants in the talks to allow international investigations of alleged war crimes by all sides "which have not been investigated nor have resulted in any redress for victims of unlawful attacks".
The group cited air strikes on civilian areas by the Saudi-led coalition backing the government and "indiscriminate" shelling and use of landmines by the Houthis.
"The parties around the negotiating table have an obligation to ensure that the violations against civilians are properly investigated and appropriately punished," HRW deputy Middle East director said in a statement.
(Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing By Maha El Dahan and Noah Browning; Editing by Alison Williams)

French presidential election set for April 23 and May 7, 2017

The two rounds of France's 2017 presidential elections will take place on April 23 and May 7, the government announced on Wednesday.
Opinion polls show former prime minister Alain Juppe from the center-right Les Republicains party is the front-runner.
Far-right party leader Marine Le Pen is seen making it to the run-off between the top two candidates after the first round, but then losing.
Parliamentary elections will take place right after, on June 11 and June 18.
(Reporting by Ingrid Melander and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Andrew Callus)

Islamic State seeks news blackout in Mosul as Iraqi army nears

MAKHMOUR, Iraq | By Stephen Kalin 

For Iraqis living in the Islamic State stronghold of Mosul, news is dwindling about the U.S.-backed army massing to the south for an assault on the city that could begin this year.Soon after Iraqi forces established a foothold in the Makhmour area in February, about 60 km (40 miles) from the northern city, the jihadists began restricting access to television for its 1 million-strong population, according to residents.
With limited and erratic access to internet and mobile networks, civilians in Mosul have depended on satellite TV for their primary source of news from the outside world since Islamic State captured the city two years ago.

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The timing of the crackdown is significant, according to local officials and analysts. They said Islamic State's aim was to insulate residents and its own fighters from any further news about the advance of Iraqi forces.
This could reduce the chances of a co-ordinated uprising against Islamic State in the city and of people who could be used as "human shields" trying to flee, they said, as well as preventing morale among fighters falling.
The move reflects the importance of Mosul to the militants; the capital of Nineveh province is the largest under their control and regarded as their de facto capital.
Islamic State wants to prevent its fighters and civilians under its control from learning about its setbacks, said Nineveh provincial councilman Hassan al-Sabawi.
"They are scared of satellites because they give a realistic picture of the situation," he said, in contrast to the group's own one-sided media.
Mosul residents say they mostly watch Iraqi TV channels focused on Nineveh like al-Mousalia, al-Sharqiya and Nineveh al-Ghad, as well as pan-Arab stations Al Jazeera and Al Hadath.
Islamic State has removed satellite TV receivers from some cafes and markets and said they would be banned from all public spaces in one month, according to five residents contacted over the phone and internet.
In early April the group barred the sale and maintenance of satellite receiver boxes for household use, according to two local merchants contacted online.
"Three members of the Hisba (morality police) entered my shop and said, 'From now on buying and selling satellite receivers is prohibited. They are a source of debauchery and immorality'," one merchant said.
HUMAN SHIELDS
The militants also coerce residents into giving up their receivers. One said he turned over his box in order to free a brother arrested for smoking. An elderly widow said Islamic State took hers as a condition for giving her financial aid.
Islamic State has even threatened to cut electricity generators used by 80 percent of residents unless they surrender the receivers, three residents said.
Omar Dulimi, a Washington-based analyst at the Stabilisation Network who specializes in governance and media in Islamic State areas, said the militants fear Baghdad could use satellite TV to direct residents to safety during the Mosul battle as it did earlier this year in Ramadi, enabling some civilians to avoid becoming human shields.
"They knew it would be hard to ban satellite TV so they took it in stages. They know they can't go to every house and destroy it, so they wanted to first convince people to do it for them," he said.
"But the locals don't want to get rid of their last line of access to the outside world so (Islamic State) has become more aggressive," he added, predicting there could be physical punishments and home raids in coming months.
Islamic State, which seized a third of Iraqi territory in 2014, has been pushed back in the west toward the Syrian border but an army offensive in the north has made slower progress. Iraqi authorities aim to retake Mosul by the end of the year with boosted support from the United States.
Increasing restrictions on television in the city have raised the stakes in an ongoing battle waged over the radio airwaves for the past year.
At least one private radio station - al-Ghad, which receives funding from former Mosul governor Atheel al-Nujaifi - is broadcasting into Islamic State territory.
SIGNAL SCRAMBLED
The militant group regularly tries to scramble al-Ghad's signal by broadcasting over their transmission, said the station's manager, who declined to be named for security reasons. Its operators respond by switching to different frequencies.
"We know media is one of the strongest weapons Daesh (Islamic State) uses, especially inside the city. It is an open war between us and Daesh's media," said the manager of the station, which set up transmitters a year ago close to the military frontline south of Mosul.
Al-Ghad conducts live broadcasts that residents can call into using Viber or WhatsApp. It also airs programs aimed at fighting radicalism, hosting Islamic scholars who challenge Islamic State ideology.
Militants sometimes call in and threaten the broadcasters on air, said the manager.
"Their main weapon is to build barriers and try to have a siege and make the people inside prisoners by disconnecting them from the whole world," he said. "So we try to break the siege."
The Iraqi government waded into the media battle about three months ago with a radio station broadcasting from a concrete shelter at the Makhmour army base.
Soldiers run the radio for around eight hours a day, transmitting religious prayers, patriotic songs, news broadcasts and pre-recorded messages.
"We tell them 'We are close to you, we are coming to liberate you and save you," one of the operators told Reuters during a visit last month.
Islamic State quickly scrambled the station's signal, "so the scrambler was bombed", he said.
But the signal currently only reaches halfway to Mosul. The operator said transmitters would be moved closer to the city as the army advances, but so far Iraqi forces have taken only four villages since launching operations from Makhmour a month ago.
(Additional reporting by Isabel Coles in Erbil; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Pravin Char) 

Apple loses China trademark case for 'iPhone' on leather goods

Apple Inc has lost a battle for the use of the "iPhone" trademark on leather goods in China after a Beijing court ruled against the world's biggest technology company in favor of a local firm, state media reported.
The Beijing Municipal High People's Court said Xintong Tiandi can continue to use the phrase "iPhone" on its leather goods, according to the Legal Daily, the official newspaper of China's Justice Ministry.
Apple declined to comment.
The U.S. tech supremo has repeatedly found itself tangled in intellectual property disputes in China where the sheer number of companies means trademarks are often taken by little-known players.
Some enterprising firms are quick to snap up trademarks that are known overseas but not registered locally, in the hope of a pay-off down the line.
In 2002, Apple applied for the "iPhone" trademark for computer hardware and software in China, but that was only approved in 2013.
Xintong Tiandi created its trademark for leather goods in 2007, the first year Apple's iPhone went on sale. The U.S. firm has been disputing the Chinese firm's intellectual property rights since 2012.
The Beijing court dismissed Apple's appeal, saying the U.S. firm could not prove the "iPhone" brand was well-known in China before 2009, when it first started selling the handsets on the mainland.
In 2012, Apple paid $60 million to end a protracted legal dispute over the iPad trademark in China, which had hampered some sales and delayed the introduction of a new iPad in the country.
Apple has been facing tougher times in Greater China - its second-largest market.
Last week, billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said he had sold his entire stake in the firm. He cited risks to the stock because of the economic slowdown in the People's Republic and worries about how the country could become more prohibitive in doing business.
(Reporting by Paul Carsten; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee in Hong Kong and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Ryan Woo)