| | |
| Knife-wielding assailants attack people in central China: Xinhua Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 09:09 PM PDT Knife-wielding assailants attacked civilians on a street in the central Chinese city of Changsha on Friday morning, state news agency Xinhua said, citing local authorities. Xinhua said its reporters saw at least one body lying on the ground at the scene. Xinhua did not make clear who was responsible for the attack in the city, capital of Hunan province. Full Story | Top |
| Japan's Abe says won't alter 1993 apology on 'comfort women' Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 07:39 PM PDT  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that his government would not revise a landmark 1993 apology to women, many Korean, forced to serve in wartime military brothels, as Washington presses for better ties between its two Asian allies. Japan's ties with South Korea are frayed by a territorial row and the legacy of its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula, including the issue of compensation and an apology to women, known euphemistically in Japan as "comfort women", forced to serve in military brothels before and during World War Two. South Korea and China were outraged by signs that Abe's government might water down the apology, issued by then-chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono, which recognized the involvement of Japanese authorities in coercing the women to work in the military brothels - a point many conservative Japanese dispute. "With regard to the 'comfort women' issue, I am deeply pained to think of the comfort women who experienced immeasurable pain and suffering, a feeling I share equally with my predecessors," Abe told a parliamentary panel. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. weighs Ukraine requests for military aid, OKs rations: sources Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 05:42 PM PDT By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is weighing requests for military assistance from Ukraine, including both lethal and non-lethal support, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, as a prominent U.S. senator urged approval of any arms sought by Kiev. The U.S. officials, who asked to speak on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the diplomatic discussions, said the United States had already decided to move ahead with some aid, including military food rations. The U.S. government was still weighing other requests, including for lethal aid, which were made through the U.S. State Department, the officials added, without offering more details. Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ukraine's interim government asked for arms, ammunition and intelligence support but the United States had decided against further assistance beyond rations because of concerns about stoking tensions with Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Search for Malaysian plane may extend to Indian Ocean: U.S. Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 05:39 PM PDT  By Anshuman Daga and Mark Hosenball KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 may be opened in the Indian Ocean, the White House said, significantly broadening the potential location of the plane, which disappeared nearly a week ago with 239 people on board. Expanding the search area to the Indian Ocean would be consistent with the theory that the Boeing 777 may have detoured to the west about an hour after take-off from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. "It's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive - but new information - an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters in Washington. The disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane is one of the most baffling mysteries in the history of modern aviation. Full Story | Top |
| Russia holds war games near Ukraine; Merkel warns of catastrophe Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 05:38 PM PDT  By Stephen Brown and Timothy Heritage BERLIN/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down on plans to annex its neighbor's Crimea region despite a stronger than expected drive for sanctions from the EU and United States. In an unusually robust and emotional speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of "catastrophe" unless Russia changes course, while a man was killed in Ukraine in fighting between rival protesters in a mainly Russian-speaking city. At the U.N. Security Council, the United States circulated a draft resolution that would declare illegal Sunday's planned referendum on independence for Ukraine's Crimea region. Full Story | Top |
| Gaza rockets, Israeli air strikes persist despite truce call Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:59 PM PDT  By Dan Williams and Nidal al-Mughrabi JERUSALEM/GAZA (Reuters) - A small armed faction in the Gaza Strip fired rockets at Israel on Thursday, drawing retaliatory air strikes and pushing cross-border violence into a third day despite a truce called by the more powerful Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. The clashes have been the most intense since the Gaza war of November 2012. This time, however, casualties have been scant with winter rains keeping many people indoors, and Israel's Iron Dome interceptor shooting down some of the Palestinian rockets. Hamas, the Islamist movement governing Gaza, has also kept its fighters out of this flare-up so far. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela says death toll from protests rises to 28 Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:56 PM PDT  By Daniel Wallis CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's state prosecutor said on Thursday the death toll from a month of violent protests had risen to 28, after the nation's top court ordered opposition mayors to dismantle barricades set up by street protesters. State prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, speaking on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, also said 1,293 detainees had been released and 104 remained in custody accused of serious crimes during the anti-government demonstrations. President Nicolas Maduro, a former bus driver elected last year to succeed the late Hugo Chavez, has declared victory over a "coup" attempt and does not look in danger of being toppled. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico's main opposition party quits energy talks amid graft scandal Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:51 PM PDT Mexico's opposition conservative party on Thursday walked out of talks over the fine print of a landmark energy bill, accusing the government of using a graft scandal to gets its way, in a move that could delay the rollout of the key legislation. The National Action Party (PAN) lawmakers said they would not return to the negotiating table until their conditions were met, raising the risk that the imminently expected laws will not be approved before the government's end-of-April deadline. Mexico's Congress in December approved a constitutional reform pushed by President Enrique Pena Nieto that ends state oil giant Pemex's 75-year monopoly on crude production and aims to lure private investment into the ailing energy sector. However, the so-called secondary laws of the reform, which include details on implementation and regulation, were still being negotiated in Mexico's upper house until Thursday, when PAN lawmakers abandoned the process. Full Story | Top |
| New Indian Ocean search may be opened for Malaysian jet: U.S. Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:25 PM PDT A new search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean as authorities try to determine what happened to a missing Malaysian airliner, the White House said on Thursday. "It's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive, but new information, an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "And we are consulting with international partners about the appropriate assets to deploy." Carney did not specify the nature of the information, and he sidestepped a question about whether the United States had confidence in the Malaysian government's investigation. "What I can tell you is that we're working with the Malaysian government to try to find the plane; Full Story | Top |
| New Mexico nuclear repository mishap leaves Los Alamos waste quandary Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:18 PM PDT By Joseph J. Kolb ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (Reuters) - The Los Alamos National Laboratory is evaluating how to meet a June deadline to permanently discard plutonium-tainted junk in light of a prolonged shutdown of a New Mexico nuclear waste dump after an accident there last month, a lab official said. Los Alamos, one of the leading U.S. nuclear weapons labs, has been forced to halt shipments of its radioactive refuse some 300 miles across the state to the nation's only underground nuclear repository, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, near Carlsbad, according to lab spokesman Matt Nerzig. The repository has remained closed while the U.S. Department of Energy investigates the origins of a radiation leak that occurred there on February 14, exposing at least 17 workers at the facility to radioactive contamination. Nerzig said about 1,000 temporary storage drums of the waste remain at the Los Alamos National Laboratory awaiting shipment to the repository near Carlsbad. Full Story | Top |
| Russia vows to veto U.S. draft at U.N. declaring Crimea vote illegal Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 04:01 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States circulated a draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Thursday that would declare Sunday's planned referendum on independence for Ukraine's Crimea region illegal, but Russia has vowed to veto it, council diplomats said. Diplomats said the one-page resolution would urge countries not to recognize the results of the vote in pro-Russian Crimea, whose parliament has already voted to join Russia. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters after a meeting of the 15-member Security Council that the resolution was aimed at changing Russian calculations "before innocent lives are lost." Speaking in the council, she said the resolution would "endorse a peaceful solution to the Ukraine crisis based on international law and (the Security) Council's mandate to act, when necessary, to ensure global security and peace." Power described the planned referendum, which is expected to overwhelmingly back Crimea's unification with Russia, as "hastily planned, unjustified and divisive" and a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine prompts fresh U.S. look at use of Russian rocket engines Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:50 PM PDT The Pentagon is going to take a fresh look at U.S. reliance on Russian-built engines to power American rockets that launch large U.S. government satellites into orbit, in light of the Ukraine crisis, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told Congress on Thursday. U.S. dependence on Russian engines has long been a concern of U.S. lawmakers, but those worries were heightened by mounting tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia's seizure of Crimea, an autonomous region in Ukraine. Asked at a congressional hearing about whether it was time for the United States to develop additional capabilities for making powerful rocket engines given the situation in Ukraine, Hagel said: "You're obviously referring to the relationship we have with the Russians on the rocket motors." "I think this is going to engage us in a review of that issue. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey's Erdogan condemns protesters as deaths fuel tensions Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:49 PM PDT  By Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan condemned anti-government protesters on Thursday as "charlatans" bent on sowing chaos in the run-up to local elections after Turkey's worst civil unrest since mass protests last summer. Two people died during protests on Wednesday, including a police officer in eastern Turkey who suffered a heart attack and a 22-year-old man shot in Istanbul in an apparent stand-off with a group of anti-government protesters. Several thousand people gathered for Burakcan Karamanoglu's funeral in Istanbul's conservative Kasimpasa district, where Erdogan grew up and still commands fervent loyalty, his death becoming a rallying point for government supporters. Full Story | Top |
| Leaked documents purport to reveal Turkish graft allegations Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:49 PM PDT By Dasha Afanasieva and Humeyra Pamuk ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A Twitter account behind a string of leaks in a Turkish corruption scandal posted late on Thursday what it presented as police files detailing graft allegations against four former ministers, dealing a further blow to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan weeks before elections. The Twitter account using the pseudonym @HARAMZADELER333 posted links to a 299-page document and a 32-page document presented as police files from an investigation that became public on December 17 with a series of dawn raids. Former interior minister Muammer Guler, former economy minister Zafer Caglayan and former environment minister Erdogan Bayraktar each saw a son detained on December 17 as police went public with their long-running corruption inquiry. Full Story | Top |
| Bin Laden relative admitted al Qaeda link, FBI agent says Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:46 PM PDT  By Bernard Vaughan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Suleiman Abu Ghaith admitted that months before al Qaeda's 2001 hijacked jet attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he promised Osama bin Laden he would be a spokesman for the group, an FBI agent testified on Thursday in a U.S. court. At Abu Ghaith's trial on terrorism charges, agent Michael Butsch said he interviewed the suspect for several hours after his arrest in February, 2013. Butsch said Abu Ghaith told him then that bin Laden invited him in July 2001 to join al Qaeda. Butsch said Abu Ghaith recalled that he told bin Laden he was not a soldier, but a religious "scholar and an orator," and agreed to serve as al Qaeda's spokesman. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia jet sent 'pings' after going missing, sources say Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:36 PM PDT By Anshuman Daga and Mark Hosenball KUALA LUMPUR/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no information about where the stray jet was heading and little else about its fate, two sources close to the investigation said on Thursday. But the "pings" indicated its maintenance troubleshooting systems were switched on and ready to communicate with satellites, showing the aircraft, with 239 people on board, was at least capable of communicating after losing touch with air traffic controllers. An international search for the 777, which left Kuala Lumpur early Saturday bound for Beijing, involves at least a dozen countries. Ships and aircraft are now combing a vast area that has been widened to cover the Gulf of Thailand, the Andaman Sea and on both sides of the Malay Peninsula. Full Story | Top |
| In drought-stricken California, court rules smelt fish get water Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:30 PM PDT By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A California appeals court sided with environmentalists over growers on Thursday and upheld federal guidelines that limit water diversions to protect Delta smelt, in a battle over how the state will cope with its worst drought in a century. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court should not have overturned recommendations that the state reduce exports of water from north to south California. The plan leaves more water in the Sacramento Delta for the finger-sized fish and have been blamed for exacerbating the effects of drought for humans. In a blog post, Damien Schiff, an attorney for growers, said the ruling "bodes ill for farmers, farm laborers and millions of other Californians dependent on a reliable water supply." Efforts to save the Delta smelt, which lives only in the wetlands stretching north of San Francisco, have been described as a humans versus fish battle. Full Story | Top |
| IMF to start negotiations with Ukraine on aid program Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:26 PM PDT By Anna Yukhananov WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An International Monetary Fund team in Kiev will begin negotiations with Ukrainian authorities about an economic reform program, the IMF's chief said on Thursday. "Following an informal briefing today of the IMF's executive board, (IMF) management has asked the team to stay in (Kiev) and begin a process of negotiation," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement. The IMF team has been in Kiev since March 4 to gather data about the government's finances, and Lagarde met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk on Wednesday. Full Story | Top |
| House of Cards, credibility gap blunt China annual TV expose Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:22 PM PDT By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Waning popularity and a wounded reputation are likely to dull the edge of China's consumer day TV expose when it airs on Saturday, offering some relief for companies that have in the past taken pains to avoid any fallout from the once-a-year show. The "3.15" show, similar to CBS network's "60 Minutes" in the United States, has often triggered a damage control campaign by the local and global firms it targets and that have included Apple Inc and carmaker Volkswagen AG.[ID:nL3N0C61VD] Consumer rights are sensitive issues in China which has been beset by a series of product safety scandals over the past few years. These scandals are often fanned by the media, and have the potential to go viral and stick around: KFC-parent Yum Brands Inc has struggled to quell anger over Chinese media reports in late 2012 about excessive antibiotic use by a few KFC suppliers in China. But the show, like other programs by state-run China Central Television, is struggling to click with younger viewers hooked to online programming and imports such as British detective show "Sherlock" and U.S. political drama "House of Cards". Full Story | Top |
| U.S. lifts ban blocking BP from new government contracts Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:16 PM PDT  The U.S. government lifted a ban on Thursday that excluded BP from new federal contracts, after the British oil major filed a lawsuit saying it was being unfairly penalized for its 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill. The Environmental Protection Agency and BP said they reached an agreement ending the prohibition on bidding for federal contracts on everything from fuel supply contracts to offshore leases after the company committed to a set of safety, ethical and corporate governance requirements. Shares of BP traded in the United States rose about 1 percent to $48.09 after the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange, a sign investors were hopeful the company could now try to grow its U.S. offshore operations. Let's let them get back to work," said Mike Breard, energy company analyst with Hodges Capital Management in Dallas. Full Story | Top |
| Sudan rebel leaders, 15 others, condemned to death - lawyer Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 03:03 PM PDT Two leaders from the main rebel alliance opposing Sudan's president and 15 members of their group were sentenced to death in absentia on Thursday, their lawyer said, a move that will raise the stakes in fighting in southern regions. Malik Agar, who was governor of Sudan's remote southern Blue Nile state before taking up arms, and Yasir Arman, who stood against Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2010 elections, were both condemned, lawyer Altujani Hassan told Reuters. Agar is now the head, and Arman the secretary general, of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N), particularly active in Blue Nile and oil-producing South Kordofan regions. Full Story | Top |
| Former guerrilla wins El Salvador vote; rival protests Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:52 PM PDT  By Michael O'Boyle and Nelson Renteria SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - A former Marxist guerrilla leader won El Salvador's presidential election by less than 7,000 votes, final results showed on Thursday, and his right-wing rival continued to press to have the vote annulled. Salvador Sanchez Ceren of the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), which as a militant group fought a string of U.S.-backed governments in a 1980-1992 civil war, won 50.11 percent support in Sunday's vote, results showed. Challenger Norman Quijano, the 67-year-old former mayor of San Salvador and candidate of the right-wing Nationalist Republican Alliance (Arena) party, had 49.89 percent support. The electoral tribunal's president, Eugenio Chicas, said the five-member court unanimously validated the election results, showing that Sanchez Ceren beat Quijano by 6,364 votes. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry says U.S., Europe ready to act if Crimea referendum held Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:38 PM PDT By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and the European Union will take serious steps against Russia if a referendum planned for Sunday in Ukraine's Crimea region results in Russian annexation, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Thursday. Kerry told a Senate hearing that he hoped to avoid such a response through last-ditch discussions on Friday with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in London. Full Story | Top |
| Satellites picked up 'pings' from Malaysia jet, sources say Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:30 PM PDT By Mark Hosenball, Andrea Shalal and Tim Hepher WASHINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) - Communications satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no information about where the stray jet was heading and little else about its fate, two sources close to the investigation said on Thursday. But the "pings" indicated that the aircraft's maintenance troubleshooting systems were switched on and ready to communicate with satellites, showing the aircraft, with 239 people on board, was at least capable of communicating after it lost touch with Malaysian air traffic controllers. The system transmits such pings about once an hour, according to the sources, who said five or six were heard. However, the pings alone are not proof that the plane was in the air or on the ground, the sources said. Full Story | Top |
| Troop, equipment gaps threaten EU's Central African Republic mission Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:28 PM PDT  By Adrian Croft BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A European Union plan to send a military force to keep the peace in Central African Republic is in jeopardy because of the failure of European governments to provide soldiers and equipment, EU sources said on Thursday. The EU has drawn up plans to send 800 to 1,000 soldiers to Central African Republic to join 6,000 African and 2,000 French troops, who have struggled to stop the fighting that started when the mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power a year ago in the majority Christian state. Failure to launch the mission would be an embarrassment for the European Union, which has been trying to burnish its credentials as a security organization, and a setback for France, which has called for more European support for its efforts in Central African Republic. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton wrote to governments on March 11 to say the EU had hoped to launch the operation next Monday but that "the difficulties we are experiencing in generating the necessary capabilities to establish the EU force put these plans at risk." "We are in particular still missing logistical enablers, staff for headquarters and infantry units ... As of today the operation commander still does not have sufficient troops at his disposal required to conduct the operation," Ashton wrote in the letter, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| One dead in Ukraine clash in eastern city Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:26 PM PDT A young man was stabbed to death and more than a dozen people were in hospital on Thursday after rival Ukrainian demonstrators clashed in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern city of Donetsk, medical officials said. In the worst violence since last month's overthrow of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president, hundreds of people waving Russian flags and chanting for Russian President Vladimir Putin scuffled on the central Lenin Square with demonstrators flying Ukrainian flags and condemning Russia's takeover of Crimea. Organizers of the pro-EU rally, which also denounced Russia's takeover of Crimea, said the dead man was from their group. Scattered fights broke out around the square and nearby streets as the demonstrators began to disperse. Full Story | Top |
| Rebels, Islamists form dangerous alliance in Pakistan's unruly southwest Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 02:12 PM PDT  By Syed Raza Hassan QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - One is a band of separatists fighting for independence from Pakistan. But in Pakistan's volatile, resource-rich province of Baluchistan, separatists have teamed up with radical Sunni Muslims in their fight against the Pakistani government. The unlikely but dangerous alliance poses a new, unexpected challenge for Pakistan, already plagued by a growing Taliban insurgency on its western Afghan border. "Both militant groups share the common goal of fighting against the state." The separatist rebels are considered less hardline compared with other groups, focusing on their political goal of independence. Full Story | Top |
| Sierra Leone's wartime president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah dies Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:27 PM PDT  Sierra Leone's former president Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, widely credited for ending an 11-year civil war, died on Thursday at the age of 82 after a long illness. President Ernest Bai Koroma's government said in a statement that Kabbah's death was an "irreparable loss" to the West African nation and it declared a week of national mourning. Kabbah, a long-time U.N. official, won the presidency in 1996, ending a decade of military rule. The civil war had made Sierra Leone a watchword for brutality, with the drug-crazed child soldiers of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels chopping off the hands and feet of civilians. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. sees serious setbacks in anti-drugs fight Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:27 PM PDT  By Fredrik Dahl and Derek Brooks VIENNA (Reuters) - The global fight against narcotics has suffered serious setbacks, including record opium cultivation in Afghanistan and a surge of trafficking-related violence in Central America, the U.N. anti-drugs chief said on Thursday. Yury Fedotov also noted some successes, such as a shrinking cocaine market, at the start of a two-day meeting that will review implementation of a 2009 plan of action to combat the drugs problem before a special session of the U.N. General Assembly in 2016, amid a heated debate on the merits of drugs liberalization. Fedotov, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said reductions in the supply and demand for some drugs in one part of the world had been partly offset by increases elsewhere. "We are strongly concerned about the vulnerability of some regions, notably West Africa and East Africa, to illicit drug trafficking," Fedotov said. Full Story | Top |
| Canada to offer Ukraine C$220 million in economic aid Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:22 PM PDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will offer C$220 million ($198 million) in aid to Ukraine to help promote sustainable economic growth and good governance, Foreign Minister John Baird said on Thursday. He told reporters that C$200 million would be in the form of a loan or a loan guarantee based on a broader package that included support from the International Monetary Fund. ... Full Story | Top |
| European lawmaker sentenced to three-and-half years after bribery retrial Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:11 PM PDT  A former member of the European Parliament was sentenced to 3-1/2 years in jail by a Vienna court on Thursday after his retrial in a cash-for-laws case, Austrian media reported. Ernst Strasser, also an ex-Austrian interior minister, originally got a four-year term in 2013 after he was filmed by reporters from Britain's Sunday Times newspaper offering to propose amendments to European laws in exchange for 100,000 euros ($139,000) a year. Full Story | Top |
| Crimea leader sees over 80 percent backing Russia union Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:07 PM PDT  By Aleksandar Vasovic SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The leader of Crimea's separatist authorities said more than 80 percent of the region's people supported the break with Ukraine and union with Russia that they will vote on in a referendum on Sunday. Sergei Aksyonov, who came to power as Russian-backed forces seized the Black Sea peninsula last week, dismissed opponents' accusations that he will fix the outcome on Moscow's orders. Now Crimea's prime minister, he told Reuters on Thursday that the plebiscite would deliver a "Yes" vote to accepting Russian sovereignty without recourse to fraud. "The process will be transparent and fair," he said inside Crimea's regional parliament building. Full Story | Top |
| Russia suspends some trade via Lithuanian port, PM says Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:05 PM PDT Russia had suspended food product imports through Lithuania's major port Klaipeda, the Baltic country's prime minister said on Thursday, a move local businesses saw as Moscow's way of exerting political pressure at a time it is confronting Ukraine. "Lithuania's terminals have received a written note. A note was also sent to companies which export goods through port terminals to Russia," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius told reporters. "The note said that exports through Lithuania, through Klaipeda's port terminals, and maybe some other terminals, is no longer possible," Butkevicius added. Full Story | Top |
| Russia blocks internet sites of Putin critics Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 01:04 PM PDT  By Steve Gutterman MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia blocked access to the internet sites of prominent Kremlin foes Alexei Navalny and Garry Kasparov on Thursday under a new law critics say is designed to silence dissent in President Vladimir Putin's third term. The prosecutor general's office ordered Russian internet providers to block Navalny's blog, chess champion and Putin critic Kasparov's internet newspaper and two other sites, grani.ru and ej.ru, state regulator Roskomnadzor said. Ej.ru editor Alexander Ryklin called it "monstrous" and a "direct violation of all the principles of freedom of speech," radio station Ekho Moskvy reported. Full Story | Top |
| Russia now backs idea of OSCE mission for Ukraine: Swiss chairman Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:46 PM PDT By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - Russia has for the first time backed the idea of deploying an OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine, including Crimea, the chairman of the European rights and security watchdog said on Thursday, calling it a possible "big step forward". The development was announced a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the crisis in Ukraine with Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, whose country chairs the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday, showing no sign of backing down in its plans to annex its neighbor's Crimea region despite a stronger than expected drive for sanctions from the European Union and United States. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian death toll exceeds 146,000 as fourth year begins -group Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:32 PM PDT Over 146,000 people, more than a third of them civilians, have been killed in Syria's uprising-turned-civil war which enters its fourth year this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday. The last U.N. figures, released in July 2013, put the death toll at least 100,000 but the United Nations said in January it would stop updating the toll as conditions on the ground made it impossible to make accurate estimates. Reuters could not verify the death toll of 146,065 published by the UK-based Observatory, an anti-government group which uses a network of sources across Syria to document the violence there. The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011 as peaceful street protests but transformed into an armed insurgency after a fierce security crackdown. Full Story | Top |
| Russia, Ukraine both invited to 50-nation meeting at NATO Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:27 PM PDT Russia and Ukraine have been invited to take part in a 50-nation meeting at NATO headquarters on Friday to discuss the situation in Ukraine, where Russian troops have occupied the Crimea region, officials said on Thursday. Ukraine asked for the extraordinary meeting of ambassadors from the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, a forum that includes the 28 NATO allies and 22 other countries from Europe and central Asia, NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said. "We expect an exchange of views among allies and partners about the situation in Ukraine," Romero said. She said all 50 members of the group had been invited, including Russia. Full Story | Top |
| Gunmen kill at least 40 in Nigerian ethnic violence Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:25 PM PDT Gunmen have killed at least 40 people in a series of attacks in the northern Nigerian state of Katsina, in violence between rival ethnic groups over farmland and cattle, police said on Thursday. "The figure that I have is 40 dead and it was a clash between Hausa people and Fulani herdsmen," Katsina state police commissioner Hurdi Mohammed told Reuters. Africa's most populous nation often has periods of bloody violence stirred by cattle rustling or ethnic rivalries over fertile farmland. The attack in Katsina was not thought to be linked to an Islamist insurgency raging in the northeast. Full Story | Top |
| EU, U.S. to commit to remove all duties on transatlantic trade Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:22 PM PDT  By Barbara Lewis and Robin Emmott BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders will promise to remove all tariffs on bilateral trade at a summit on March 26, an ambitious step towards the world's largest free-trade deal, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. The joint declaration, if delivered as laid out in the draft, seeks to overcome tensions following Washington's offer to cut its duties by less than the Europeans had hoped for and after Brussels pledged to remove almost all of its own tariffs. "The EU and the United States are firmly committed to concluding a comprehensive and ambitious Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership," the draft statement reads, referring to U.S.-EU free-trade talks by their official name. "Those goals include eliminating all duties on bilateral goods trade," says the statement, which will be delivered at the end of the day-long summit in Brussels. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. suspends some aid to Uganda over anti-gay law Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 12:22 PM PDT By Philippa Croome KAMPALA (Reuters) - The United States has suspended some aid to Uganda's ministry of health, officials said on Thursday, in its first concrete move reported in response to the passing of an anti-homosexuality law. The U.S. had signaled it was reviewing its ties with the East African country after President Yoweri Museveni signed in legislation on February 24 that punishes gay sex with jail terms up to life. "As a result of this review process, a portion of the U.S. Centre for Disease Control's (CDC) cooperative agreement with the Ministry of Health has been put on hold pending this review," a senior U.S. government official told Reuters on Thursday. The U.S. official did not say how much aid was withheld but added the CDC had spent $3.9 million on a ministry of health program last year. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment