 Target registers are now working after a nationwide outage Saturday caused long checkout lines and closed some stores.
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 10:06 pm  Defense chief says attack was not just ‘US situation’, as UK joins Washington in accusing Iran and Saudi Arabia calls for ‘rapid’ response An oil tanker is seen after it was attacked at the Gulf of Oman this week. Photograph: HANDOUT/Reuters The US is hoping to “build international consensus” around what officials claim is Iran’s responsibility for damaging two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, as UK officials joined the US in formally accusing Iran of carrying out the attacks. The efforts come after the US released grainy surveillance footage of an alleged Iran Revolutionary Guard patrol boat, with men who appear to remove a magnetic limpet mine on the hull of one of the ships. The acting defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan, said the US was looking to “build international consensus to this international problem” on Friday. The attack was not only a “US situation”, Shanahan said. He listed several other countries that operated vessels in the waters. “When you look at the situation, a Norwegian ship, Japanese ship, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE,” Shanahan said, referring to attacks a few weeks prior. Oil prices have risen 3.4% following the attack, which came in the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping channel for international oil supplies. Insurance for ship operators in the area jumped 10%. Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, also uses the Strait. On Saturday, the Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said “there must be a rapid and decisive response to the threat” to secure Gulf energy supplies and consumer confidence, according to a tweet from the ministry. The message was echoed by the Japanese industry minister, Hiroshige Seko, who said ministers agreed on the need to “work together to deal with the recent incidents from [an] energy security point of view”. The U.S. military released a video on Thursday, saying it showed Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind the explosions that damaged the Norwegian-owned Front Altair and the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous. The UK officially joined the US in accusing Iran of perpetrating the attack on Friday night, in a statement from the Foreign Office saying: “It is almost certain that a branch of the Iranian military – the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – attacked the two tankers on 13 June. No other state or non-state actor could plausibly have been responsible.” The statement continued: “There is recent precedent for attacks by Iran against oil tankers. The Emirati-led investigation of the 12 May attack on four oil tankers near the port of Fujairah [in the UAE] concluded that it was conducted by a sophisticated state actor. We are confident that Iran bears responsibility for that attack.” Although Donald Trump claimed the attacks had “Iran written all over” them, other heads of state have been more cautious in assigning blame. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, called for an independent investigation. “It’s very important to know the truth and it’s very important that responsibilities are clarified. Obviously that can only be done if there is an independent entity that verifies those facts,” Guterres told reporters on Friday. The German foreign minister was also cautious, saying the video released by US Central Command was “not enough” to make an assessment, according to ABC News. Several world powers have meanwhile called for diplomatic efforts to lower tensions, including China and Russia, which have closer ties to Iran. The European Union called for “maximum restraint”. Iran, meanwhile, has denied responsibility for the attack. Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, said the claims were like “false fabrications during world war I, the Vietnam war and Iraq war that were designed to instigate military interventions and armed conflicts in different parts of world.” The attack came as the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited Iran in an attempt to mediate new talks on a nuclear agreement. One of the ships attacked was a Japanese vessel called the Kokuka Courageous. Iran is holding the mostly Russian crew of one of the ships, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 7:06 pm  Government airstrikes, intense shelling and fighting on the ground in rebel-held areas in northwest Syria claimed the lives of dozens of people Saturday, Syrian opposition activists said. In northwest Syria, fighting intensified as government forces pressed their offensive toward Idlib province, the last major rebel stronghold in the country's lengthy civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition's Syrian Civil Defense said at least 10 civilians were killed in Saturday's airstrikes and shelling of rebel-held villages and towns.
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 4:30 pm  Saudi Arabia called for swift action to secure Gulf energy supplies and joined the United States in blaming Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in a vital shipping route that have raised fears of broader confrontation in the region. Washington, already embroiled in a standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme, has blamed Tehran and Saudi Arabia's crown prince also accused Iran on Saturday.
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 3:51 pm  Hong Kong's embattled leader on Saturday suspended a hugely divisive bill that would allow extraditions to China, in a major climbdown following unprecedented unrest, but protesters vowed to press ahead with a mass Sunday rally. The concession from chief executive Carrie Lam was swiftly rejected by protest leaders, who called on her to resign, permanently shelve the bill and apologise for police tactics. The international finance hub was rocked by the worst political violence since its 1997 handover to China on Wednesday as tens of thousands of protesters were dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets.
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 2:56 pm  Many of the Central Americans who lined up for papers at an asylum office in southern Mexico said they could abandon plans to reach the United States and remain in Mexico if U.S. President Donald Trump clamps down further on migration. Mexico is ramping up security on its southern border with Guatemala as part of an agreement with Washington after Trump threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Mexican goods if the government did not stem the flow of migrants reaching the United States. Under pressure from Washington, Mexico also agreed to expand a program started in January that forces migrants to wait in Mexico for the outcome of their U.S. asylum claims.
Source: Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines | 15 Jun 2019 | 1:19 pm | |
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