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| Ukraine appeals to the West as Crimea turns to Russia Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 08:42 PM PDT  By Andrew Osborn and Alastair Macdonald SEVASTOPOL/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government appealed for Western help on Tuesday to stop Moscow annexing Crimea but the Black Sea peninsula, overrun by Russian troops, seemed fixed on a course that could formalize rule from Moscow within days. With their own troops in Crimea effectively prisoners in their bases, the new authorities in Kiev painted a sorry picture of the military bequeathed them by the pro-Moscow president overthrown two weeks ago. The prime minister, heading for talks at the White House and United Nations, told parliament in Kiev he wanted the United States and Britain, as guarantors of a 1994 treaty that saw Ukraine give up its Soviet nuclear weapons, to intervene both diplomatically and militarily to fend off Russian "aggression". Full Story | Top |
| China steps up hunt for corrupt officials overseas: state media Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:32 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China will step up its hunt for corrupt officials who have fled abroad, confiscate illegal assets of overseas fugitives and stop suspect offenders leaving the country, as it intensifies the fight against graft, state media said on Wednesday, citing the country's top prosecutor. Cao Jianming, the head of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, said China will "work more closely with judicial organs abroad to expand channels and measures to hunt those who have fled and to recover ill-gotten gains", the China Daily newspaper said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia air force chief denies saying lost plane tracked to west Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:17 PM PDT  By Stuart Grudgings KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's air force chief has denied saying military radar tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, adding to the mystery surrounding the fate of flight MH370, which vanished on Saturday with 239 people aboard. A massive air and sea search now in its fifth day has failed to find any trace of the Boeing 777, and the last 24 hours have seen conflicting statements and reports over what may have happened after it lost contact with air traffic controllers. Malaysia's Berita Harian newspaper on Tuesday quoted Air Force chief Rodzali Daud as saying the plane was last detected by military radar at the northern end of the Strait of Malacca at 2.40 a.m. on Saturday, hundreds of kilometers off course. Full Story | Top |
| Vietnam scales down search for missing Malaysian jet Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 07:01 PM PDT PHU QUOC ISLAND, Vietnam (Reuters) - Vietnam said on Wednesday it was scaling back the search in Vietnamese waters for a Malaysian Airlines jetliner missing for four days, a senior Vietnamese official said. "We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended," Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, told reporters. Tieu said searches by ships were being suspended. ... Full Story | Top |
| British EU vote unlikely before 2020 if Labour wins power, Miliband says Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:58 PM PDT  By Ana Nicolaci da Costa LONDON (Reuters) - A future Labour government would only hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union before 2020 if more powers were transferred to Brussels, party leader Ed Miliband will say Wednesday. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to try to reach a new settlement with the EU before holding an in/out referendum by the end of 2017, provided he wins the May 2015 election. ... Full Story | Top |
| Front companies, embassies mask North Korean weapons trade: U.N. Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:55 PM PDT  By James Pearson SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent United Nations sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons, a United Nations report issued on Tuesday said. It said North Korea was also making use of more complicated financial countermeasures and techniques "pioneered by drug-trafficking organizations" that made tracking the isolated state's purchase of prohibited goods more difficult. The report, compiled by a panel of eight U.N. experts, is part of an annual accounting of North Korea's compliance with layers of U.N. sanctions imposed in response to Pyongyang's banned nuclear weapons and missile programs. "From the incidents analyzed in the period under review, the panel has found that (North Korea) makes increasing use of multiple and tiered circumvention techniques," a summary of the 127-page report said. Full Story | Top |
| Runner-up in El Salvador presidential election wants vote to be annulled Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:54 PM PDT  SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The runner-up in El Salvador's presidential election said on Tuesday he was asking the country's electoral tribunal to annul the tight contest after refusing to accept the outcome. "We're going ahead and presenting a motion to have the elections on March 9 annulled," Norman Quijano, candidate of the right wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena), told reporters in San Salvador as squabbling over the vote continued. On Sunday Quijano finished 0. ... Full Story | Top |
| China says search efforts for missing plane to be expanded to land areas Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:52 PM PDT BEIJING (Reuters) - China's air force will add two planes to the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, the country's civil aviation chief said on Wednesday, adding that search and rescue efforts would be broadened to include land areas. Li Jiaxiang, chairman of the Civil Aviation Adiministration of China, made the comments on the sidelines of China's annual parliament. In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation has so far found no trace of the aircraft days after it disappeared carrying 239 passengers and crew. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia air force denies tracking missing jet to Strait of Malacca Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:18 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's air force chief denied a media report that the military last tracked a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control when it disappeared four days ago. "I wish to state that I did not make any such statements," air force chief Rodzali Daud said in a statement on Wednesday. The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. ... Full Story | Top |
| Special Report: How China's official bank card is used to smuggle money Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 05:29 PM PDT  By James Pomfret MACAU (Reuters) - Growing numbers of Chinese are using the country's state-backed bankcards to illegally spirit billions of dollars abroad, a Reuters examination has found. This underground money is flowing across the border into the gambling hub of Macau, a former Portuguese colony that like Hong Kong is an autonomous region of China. And the conduit for the cash is the Chinese government-supported payment card network, China UnionPay. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. company puts crowdsourcing to work in search for Malaysian jet Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 05:07 PM PDT By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado-based company has put "crowdsourcing" to work in the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet, enlisting Internet users to comb through satellite images of more than 1,200 square miles (3,200 square km) of open seas for any signs of wreckage, the company said on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| Coming to a store near you: UnionPay, the world's biggest bankcard Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 05:05 PM PDT SHANGHAI (Reuters) - In UnionPay's curved glass headquarters in Shanghai's financial hub of Pudong, a plaque commemorates a visit by former Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2010. Emblazoned on it is a quote from Hu urging the company to "step up the effort to internationalize and strive to build UnionPay into a major global brand for bankcards". China's renminbi currency is not yet an international currency - it is not freely convertible. Yet China's official bank card has achieved Hu's dream of global dominance. China UnionPay has become the world's largest card brand with 3. ... Full Story | Top |
| California drought means 30 million salmon may be trucked to sea Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 04:21 PM PDT By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California's record drought has left the Sacramento River so low that wildlife officials say they may have to carry all 30 million young salmon from the state's largest man-made hatcheries to the Pacific Ocean in trucks to avoid depleting the stock. That is roughly three times the amount of salmon that are trucked out of the biggest hatcheries in a typical year, reflecting the severity of a drought that has prompted the governor to declare an emergency and warn of possible water shortages. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bachelet takes power in Chile, vows to fight inequality Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 04:00 PM PDT  By Alexandra Ulmer and Anthony Esposito VALPARAISO/SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Michelle Bachelet took over the presidency of Chile in a ceremony loaded with symbolism on Tuesday, promising to stick to her tax-and-spend campaign pledges to fight social inequality despite a sharp economic slowdown. Bachelet accepted the presidential sash from Senate head Isabel Allende, the daughter of late socialist President Salvador Allende, whose overthrow in 1973 ushered in the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. ... Full Story | Top |
| Caribbean nations agree to seek slavery reparations from Europe Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 03:34 PM PDT By Aileen Torres-Bennett KINGSTON (Reuters) - Caribbean leaders are moving forward with a plan to seek reparations from the former slave-owning states of Europe, according to a lawyer for the island nations. The Caribbean Community (Caricom) approved a 10-point plan for reparations at a two-day meeting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines that was due to wrap up on Tuesday, said Martyn Day, a U.K.-based lawyer at Leigh Day, who is working on the case. ... Full Story | Top |
| IMF funding issue delays U.S. Congress Ukraine bill Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 03:05 PM PDT By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers debated on Tuesday whether to include a shift in funding for the International Monetary Fund in a bill to address the crisis in Ukraine, raising concerns that the measure could be delayed for weeks. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had hoped to vote on Tuesday on a package that aides said would include aid for Ukraine and sanctions, as well as $1 billion in loan guarantees. Members have been unable to agree on the IMF funding, which was requested by the Obama administration but is opposed by many Republican lawmakers. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bomb explodes near Israeli embassy in Cairo, no one hurt Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:52 PM PDT  CAIRO (Reuters) - A home-made bomb exploded in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Tuesday, but no one was hurt, security sources and the website of state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said. The office has not been used by Israeli diplomats for at least two years, following a September 2011 attack on the embassy. Security sources said the explosion targeted a police car parked nearby, rather than the embassy itself and did not cause any injuries. Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. ... Full Story | Top |
| Libyan parliament sacks PM after tanker escapes rebel-held port Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:47 PM PDT  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's parliament voted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan out of office on Tuesday after rebels humiliated the government by loading crude on a tanker that fled from naval forces, officials said, in a sign of the worsening chaos in the OPEC member state. Libyan gunboats later chased the tanker along Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast and opened fire, damaging it, a military spokesman said. Western powers fear the vast North African state could even break apart with the government struggling to rein in armed militias and tribesmen who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but want to grab power and oil revenues. Zeidan, who came to power in 2012 after Libya's first free parliamentary vote following four decades of quirky one-man rule by Gaddafi, had been facing opposition from Islamists and the public blaming him for Libya's anarchic transition since 2011. Full Story | Top |
| Italian parliament inches towards approving electoral reform Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:43 PM PDT  By Roberto Landucci ROME (Reuters) - Italian lawmakers edged closer on Tuesday to approving a new electoral law seen as a test of new Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's ability to enact broad structural reforms needed to end government instability in Italy. Overhauling the complicated voting system blamed for leaving Italy with a deadlocked parliament has been a top priority for Renzi since he became leader of the main center-left Democratic Party (PD) last year. The new law, designed after an agreement between Renzi and center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi, is intended to produce a clear winner able to govern without the kind of unwieldy cross-party coalition left by last year's inconclusive election. Renzi had been pushing hard to get the bill through the Chamber of Deputies lower house before he unveils a package of tax and job measures on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan state prosecutor bans ousted PM Zeidan from travelling abroad Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:41 PM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya's state prosecutor said on Tuesday he had banned ousted Prime Minister Ali Zeidan from travelling abroad while he is under investigation. Zeidan, who earlier in the day lost a confidence vote in parliament, will be investigated for alleged financial corruption and other irregularities, Abdel-Qader Radwan told Reuters and Libya's al-Ahrar television. (Reporting by Feras Bosalum; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia military source says missing jet veered to west Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:40 PM PDT  By Niluksi Koswanage and Eveline Danubrata KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's military believes a jetliner missing for almost four days turned and flew hundreds of kilometers to the west after it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a senior officer told Reuters on Tuesday. In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew. Malaysian authorities have said previously that Flight MH370 disappeared about an hour after it took off early Saturday from Kuala Lumpur bound for the Chinese capital, Beijing. But a senior military officer who has been briefed on investigations told Reuters the aircraft had made a detour to the west after communications with civilian authorities ended. Full Story | Top |
| Anti-fracking activist barred from 40 percent of Pennsylvania county Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:32 PM PDT  By David DeKok HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A court injunction obtained by Texas-based Cabot Oil & Gas is preventing Pennsylvania resident Vera Scroggins from going to her local grocery store, her friends' homes, schools, or even the hospital. That's because those properties sit atop the more than 200,000 acres in Susquehanna County that the energy producer owns and leases for gas extraction - land on which Scroggins, a determined anti-fracking activist, is not allowed to tread. A judge in October granted Cabot's request to bar Scroggins from the land - more than 40 percent of Susquehanna County, where she lives - after her repeated trespassing, court documents show. Her offending actions included giving a tour last year to anti-drilling celebrities Susan Sarandon, Yoko Ono, and Sean Lennon, the documents said. Full Story | Top |
| Death of Turkish boy hurt in protests rekindles unrest across country Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:24 PM PDT  By Daren Butler and Parisa Hafezi ISTANBUL/ANKARA (Reuters) - Protesters clashed with police in cities across Turkey on Tuesday after the death of a 15-year-old boy who was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister during anti-government demonstrations last summer. Police unleashed water cannon and tear gas on thousands of demonstrators, another pre-election headache for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as he battles a corruption scandal that has become one of the biggest challenges of his decade in power. Istanbul and Ankara have both seen protests in recent weeks against what demonstrators regard as Erdogan's authoritarian reaction to the graft affair, which has included new laws tightening Internet controls and handing government greater influence over the appointment of judges and prosecutors. Berkin Elvan, then 14, got caught up in street battles in Istanbul between police and protesters on June 16 while going to buy bread for his family. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. condemns 'heavy-handed tactics' by Burundi police in clashes Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:57 PM PDT The United States on Tuesday condemned what it called the use of heavy-handed tactics by Burundi's police to break up opposition party meetings at the weekend in which more than a dozen people were injured and several were arrested. The State Department said police tried to break up a peaceful meeting by the women's wing of the United for National Progress party as they tried to mark International Women's Day. Separately, police tried to prevent an opposition meeting at the headquarters of the Movement for Solidarity and Democracy political party (MSD), the State Department added. "The United States is deeply concerned by the Government of Burundi's actions to prevent or break up two separate meetings of opposition political parties on March 8," the State Department said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. says Russia hasn't created environment for Ukraine diplomacy Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:43 PM PDT Russian responses to U.S. proposals to end the Ukraine crisis do not create the environment for a diplomatic resolution, the United States said on Tuesday, a day before President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet with the Ukrainian prime minister. Russia's bloodless seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region has brought U.S.-Russian relations to one of their lowest points since the Cold War, with the United States searching for a way to keep Russia from annexing Crimea and its Russian naval base. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday morning to discuss a series of questions Washington put to Moscow over the weekend in an effort to find a diplomatic solution, the State Department said. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine appeals to West as Crimea turns to Russia Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:42 PM PDT By Andrew Osborn and Alastair Macdonald SEVASTOPOL/KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's government appealed for Western help on Tuesday to stop Moscow annexing Crimea but the Black Sea peninsula, overrun by Russian troops, seemed fixed on a course that could formalize rule from Moscow within days. With their own troops in Crimea effectively prisoners in their bases, the new authorities in Kiev painted a sorry picture of the military bequeathed them by the pro-Moscow president overthrown two weeks ago. They announced the raising of a new National Guard to be drawn from volunteers among veterans. The prime minister, heading for talks at the White House and United Nations, told parliament in Kiev he wanted the United States and Britain, as guarantors of a 1994 treaty that saw Ukraine give up its Soviet nuclear weapons, to intervene both diplomatically and militarily to fend off Russian "aggression". Full Story | Top |
| Rouhani has not increased freedoms in Iran, U.N. chief says Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 12:09 PM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has failed to fulfil campaign promises to allow greater freedom of expression and there has been a sharp rise in executions since his election, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. Rouhani, who won a landslide in June, led Iran to an initial nuclear deal with world powers. In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ban highlighted the prevalent use of capital punishment in Iran and called for the release of activists, lawyers and journalists as well as political prisoners that he said were in custody for exercising their rights to free speech and assembly. "The new administration has not made any significant improvement in the promotion and protection of freedom of expression and opinion, despite pledges made by the president during his campaign and after his swearing in," Ban said. Full Story | Top |
| Sudan student dies after police fire tear gas on protest Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 12:08 PM PDT A Sudanese student died on Tuesday after police fired tear gas at Khartoum University protesters who have links to the Darfur region, police said in an emailed statement. Security forces had used tear gas and batons against around 200 students who organized a march at Khartoum University against escalating violence in Darfur which they blamed on the government, a Reuters witness said. Dozens have been killed in the region in recent weeks, where rebels have been fighting forces of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir has stayed in power despite rebellions, U.S. trade sanctions, an economic crisis, an attempted coup and an indictment from the International Criminal Court on charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. Full Story | Top |
| Time running out for EU bid to engage Russia, Germany warns Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:57 AM PDT By David Mardiste and Andrius Sytas TALLINN/VILNIUS (Reuters) - The European Union will start preparing further responses to Russia's actions in Ukraine if Moscow does not show signs of backing down by the weekend, Germany's foreign minister said on Tuesday, a warning echoed by the Polish prime minister. Since the fall of Ukraine's president to pro-Western unrest, Russian forces have consolidated their hold on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula ahead of a Russian-backed referendum on the region's future on Sunday. Full Story | Top |
| Shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles flow abroad from Libya: U.N. Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:49 AM PDT By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles have been trafficked out of Libya to Chad, Mali, Tunisia, Lebanon and likely Central African Republic, with attempts made to send them to Syrian opposition groups, according to a U.N. report on Tuesday. An independent panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions on Libya, that include an arms embargo imposed at the start of the 2011 uprising that ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, reported that the weapons, known as MANPADs, that were found in Mali and Tunisia "were clearly part of terrorist groups' arsenals." "Despite efforts by Libya and other countries to account for and secure MANPADs in Libya, Panel sources state that thousands of MANPADs were still available in arsenals controlled by a wide array of non-state actors with tenuous or non-existent links to Libyan national authorities," the experts said in their final report to the U.N. Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Detained Ukrainian journalists released in Crimea Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:46 AM PDT Three journalists detained by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, now under the control of the Russian military, were released on Tuesday, Ukrainian police sources said. The three women journalists were detained on the peninsula by members of Russian Unity, a political party which favors the union of Crimea with Russia, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had earlier said on his Facebook page. The Ukrainian police sources said interior ministry officials had been in contact with the journalists' driver and they were now safe and in a Ukrainian district outside Crimea. The three journalists - Kateryna Butko, Alexandra Ryazantseva and Olena Maksymenko - were detained at a checkpoint manned by Russian Unity and later taken to the port city of Sevastopol, ministry sources said. Full Story | Top |
| Swiss to ask European court to review genocide denial case Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:15 AM PDT  Switzerland will ask the European Court of Human Rights to review a case involving a Turkish politician who denied that mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey in 1915 amounted to genocide, the Justice Ministry said on Tuesday. A Swiss court had fined the leader of the leftist Turkish Workers' Party, Dogu Perincek, for having branded talk of an Armenian genocide "an international lie" during a 2007 lecture tour in Switzerland. The European court, which upholds the 47-nation European Convention on Human Rights, said in December a Swiss law against genocide denial violated the principle of freedom of expression. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan defense minister gives oath to become acting PM Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:12 AM PDT TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan defense minister Abdallah al-Thinni gave his oath in parliament on Tuesday to become acting prime minister after deputies voted Ali Zeidan out of office amid worsening disorder in the oil-producing North African state. Parliament will support Thinni and not obstruct his work, its head Nuri Ali Abu Sahmain told the assembly during a session broadcast by state television. (Reporting by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Full Story | Top |
| Bomb wounds two policemen in Bahraini Shi'ite village Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:11 AM PDT A homemade bomb exploded in a Shi'ite Muslim village in Bahrain on Tuesday, wounding two policemen, the interior ministry said, nine days after another blast in the Gulf Arab kingdom killed three police officers. Bahrain has been grappling with unrest by majority Shi'ites over the past three years demanding political reform and an end to perceived discrimination in the Sunni Muslim-ruled country. Bahrain denies any discrimination against Shi'ites. Bomb attacks have increased since last year, raising concern about further instability in the Western-allied kingdom where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based as a bulwark against Shi'ite giant Iran across the Gulf. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan charges four high-profile prisoners with treason Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:10 AM PDT By Carl Odera JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan charged four high-profile prisoners with treason on Tuesday, dashing rebel hopes that they would be released ahead of peace talks planned in Ethiopia this month. Rebels led by former vice president Riek Machar have demanded a pardon for the four politicians, all former members of the ruling SPLM party, before the peace talks resume. Full Story | Top |
| Russia says planned US financial aid to Ukraine is illegal Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 11:01 AM PDT Russia warned the United States on Tuesday about the consequences of planned financial support to what it called Ukraine's illegitimate regime, saying the aid would be illegal. The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved $1 billion worth of loan guarantees for Ukraine and U.S. senators are preparing legislation that aides said would be broader and could include sanctions against Russia. The Russian foreign ministry explicitly referred to a statement made earlier on Tuesday by ousted President Viktor Yanukovich asserting that any such aid would be illegal. "By all criteria, issuing funding to an illegitimate regime that seized power by force is unlawful and goes beyond the framework of the American legal system." The statement is likely to further increase tension between Russia and the West amid diplomatic deadlock over Ukraine after sustained pro-Western unrest toppled the pro-Russian Yanukovich. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. says senior official drops plan for Crimea visit for now Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:54 AM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNTED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Ivan Simonovic, who is in Ukraine to assess the human rights situation, will not go to the pro-Russian Crimea region for the time being, the United Nations said on Tuesday. "He plans to travel to Lviv tomorrow," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. "Regarding travel to Crimea, Mr. Simonovic has been informed that under the current circumstances, the security of his delegation cannot be guaranteed. Full Story | Top |
| Italy says no military vessel near Libyan tanker incident Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:47 AM PDT Italy's defense ministry on Tuesday said that no Italian military vessels were near to where a Libyan military spokesman earlier said Italian ships had helped Libya's navy secure a fleeing oil tanker, a spokeswoman said. "There were no Italian military vessels in the area," a ministry spokeswoman told Reuters. A tanker that loaded oil at a rebel-held port in the east of the country escaped the Libyan navy earlier in the day, leading to the ouster of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan. A Libyan military spokeswoman later said the tanker had been fired on, damaged and secured with the help of "Italian vessels". Full Story | Top |
| Egyptian security forces kill 'terrorist' in Cairo shoot-out Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:44 AM PDT Egyptian forces killed a suspected insurgent in a shootout in the streets of Cairo on Tuesday, the interior ministry said. The man was suspected of involvement in the bombing of a security compound in central Cairo in January in which four people were killed, an attack that showed the capability of militants to strike beyond the Sinai peninsula where their insurgency has intensified in recent months. The ministry said Mohamed El-Sayed Mansour El-Toukhy - also known as Abu Obaida, according to state media - opened fire on security forces as they tried to arrest him in Cairo's Ain Shams district. "El-Toukhy belongs to the most dangerous terrorist elements and was involved in committing (the crime of) bombing Cairo's security directorate," the ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| No room for 'Nyet' in Ukraine's Crimea vote to join Russia Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:43 AM PDT By Richard Balmforth KIEV (Reuters) - Sunday's vote in Ukraine's Crimea is being officially billed as a chance for the peninsula's peoples to decide fairly and freely their future - but in fact there is no room on the ballot paper for voting "Nyet" to control by Russia. According to a format of the ballot paper, published on the parliament's website, the first question will ask: "Are you in favor of the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a part of the Russian Federation?" The second asks: "Are you in favor of restoring the 1992 Constitution and the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?" At first glance, the second option seems to offer the prospects of the peninsula remaining within Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
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