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| U.S. halts military engagements with Russia in rebuke over Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 07:16 PM PST By Phil Stewart WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday suspended all military engagements with Russia, including military exercises and port visits, as Washington sought ways to punish Moscow over its military intervention in Ukraine without escalating the crisis. The announcement from the Pentagon came hours after President Barack Obama warned the U.S. government will look at a series of economic and diplomatic sanctions that would isolate Moscow. Full Story | Top |
| Russian markets plunge as Putin tightens Crimea grip Monday, Mar 03, 2014 07:00 PM PST  By Lidia Kelly and Alissa de Carbonnel MOSCOW/PEREVALNOYE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Russia paid a heavy financial price on Monday for its military intervention in neighboring Ukraine, with stocks, bonds and the ruble plunging as President Vladimir Putin's forces tightened their grip on the Russian-speaking Crimea region. The Moscow stock market fell 10.8 percent, wiping nearly $60 billion off the value of Russian companies, more than the $51 billion Russia spent on the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month. Putin declared at the weekend he had the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian interests and citizens. Moscow's U.N. envoy told a stormy meeting of the Security Council on Monday that Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich had sent a letter to Putin requesting he use Russia's military to restore law and order in Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. suspends trade, investment talks with Russia over Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 05:17 PM PST The United States has put trade and investment talks with Russia on hold as a rebuke for Russia's incursion into Ukraine, a U.S. official said on Monday. Full Story | Top |
| New U.S. fuel standards aim to cut asthma, heart attacks Monday, Mar 03, 2014 05:10 PM PST  By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration on Monday announced new fuel and automobile rules to cut soot, smog and toxic emissions, which it says will reduce asthma and heart attacks in the United States. The rules unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency will cut sulfur levels in gasoline by more than 60 percent and will be phased in between 2017 and 2025. Health advocates praised the move, while a petroleum refiners' group called the compliance schedule unrealistic and warned that these regulations and others would eventually raise gasoline prices throughout the country. "By reducing these pollutants and making our air healthier, we will bring relief to those suffering from asthma, other lung diseases and cardiovascular disease, and to the nation as a whole," said Dr. Albert Rizzo, former chairman of the American Lung Association. Full Story | Top |
| At White House, Israel's Netanyahu pushes back against Obama diplomacy Monday, Mar 03, 2014 04:16 PM PST  By Jeffrey Heller and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly told Barack Obama on Monday that he would never compromise on Israel's security even as the U.S. president sought to reassure him on Iran nuclear diplomacy and pressure him on Middle East peace talks. In a White House meeting overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, the two leaders avoided any direct clash during a brief press appearance but were unable to paper over differences on a pair of sensitive diplomatic drives that have stoked tensions between them. Obama assured Netanyahu of his "absolute commitment" to preventing Iran from developing atomic weapons, despite the Israeli leader's deep skepticism over U.S.-led efforts to reach a final international deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program. But, warning that time was running out, Obama also urged Netanyahu to make "tough decisions" to help salvage a faltering U.S.-brokered peace process aimed at reaching a framework agreement with the Palestinians and extending talks beyond an April target date for an elusive final accord. Full Story | Top |
| Powerful storm lashes eastern U.S. with snow, arctic cold Monday, Mar 03, 2014 04:14 PM PST  By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A deadly winter storm hit the U.S. East Coast with freezing rain, snow and near-record cold on Monday, cancelling about 2,900 flights, shutting down Washington and closing schools and local governments. The latest in a series of weather systems to pummel the winter-weary eastern United States, the storm dumped about 4 inches of snow on the U.S. capital by early afternoon as it swept from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic coast, the National Weather Service said. Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist, said temperatures would be about 30 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) below normal as a cold front settled in from Great Plains to the Atlantic coast. Icy roads in Virginia were blamed for at least one death on Monday morning when a 30-year-old man drove his pickup truck into an embankment, flipping the vehicle and striking a tree, Virginia State Police said. Full Story | Top |
| Russia: Yanukovich asked Putin to use force to save Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 04:09 PM PST By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Ukraine's ousted leader Viktor Yanukovich has sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use Russia's military to restore law and order in Ukraine, Moscow's U.N. envoy told a stormy meeting of the Security Council on Monday. "The country has plunged into chaos and anarchy," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin read from an unofficial translation of the letter while speaking to reporters after an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. "In this context, I appeal to the President of Russia Vladimir V. Putin to use the armed forces of the Russian Federation to re-establish the rule of law, peace, order, stability and to protect the people of Ukraine." Churkin held up a copy of the letter for council members to see during a heated council session in which Western envoys and the Russian ambassador hurled allegations at each other for two and a half hours. After the Russian ambassador spoke, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power dismissed Russian claims that Russian-speaking Ukrainians were under threat in the eastern regions of the former Soviet republic. Full Story | Top |
| Scottish leader to take independence fight to London Monday, Mar 03, 2014 04:05 PM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith LONDON (Reuters) - An independent Scotland would be a prosperous country that would retain close ties with the United Kingdom if voters choose to go it alone in the September 18 referendum, Scottish leader Alex Salmond will say on Tuesday. Salmond will use his first speech in London this year to address arguments against independence by British Prime Minister David Cameron, opposition leaders and some business executives. Heading the campaign for secession, Salmond is battling a concerted effort by London to prevent a "yes" vote by undermining his Scottish National Party's central case that oil-producing Scotland could be a prosperous, independent nation. A vote for independence would not mean ending ties with the United Kingdom, he will say. Full Story | Top |
| Obama meets national security team on Ukraine at White House Monday, Mar 03, 2014 03:38 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is holding a high-level meeting at the White House about Ukraine with senior military and national security advisers, a White House official said on Monday. Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, national security adviser Susan Rice, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and General Martin Dempsey were among those in attendance, the official said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Peter Cooney) Full Story | Top |
| From India's northern backwaters, a new business elite rises Monday, Mar 03, 2014 03:36 PM PST  By Sanjeev Miglani PATNA, India (Reuters) - Ravindra Kishore Sinha built India's largest security business from a garage in the dirt-poor state of Bihar. He has just won a seat in the upper house of parliament, becoming its richest member, and his Security and Intelligence Services (SIS India) firm is growing at 40 percent a year. A few hundred miles to the west, but still in northern India, the Gupta family of Kanpur has transformed Dainik Jagran, which was born in the tumult of the independence movement, into a newspaper giant with the world's highest readership. Full Story | Top |
| Crimean authorities to cut power, water to Ukrainian troops: Russian ex-lawmaker Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:26 PM PST Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea will cut off water and electricity to Ukrainian soldiers in bases surrounded by Russian forces on Monday night, a Russian former lawmaker loyal to President Vladimir Putin said. Sergei Markov, who held meetings with pro-Russian authorities on the Ukrainian peninsula earlier on Monday, told reporters the soldiers would also be told they would not receive their next pay packet if they did not publicly renounce their loyalty to the new provisional government in Kiev, the capital. "If they stay here and remain loyal to Kiev and the Ukrainian government, it will become more uncomfortable for them," said Markov, who sits in a Kremlin-backed public policy chamber. Full Story | Top |
| As Russia tightens grip on Crimea, Ukraine navy comes under siege Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:25 PM PST By Andrew Osborn SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - The new head of Ukraine's navy has been in the job for less than a day, but, like his fleet and parts of his country, he is already under siege. On Monday morning, Serhiy Haiduk told his men that his predecessor, who defected to the pro-Russian authorities in Crimea the previous day, was wanted for treason. In the evening, he was holed up behind the crumbling white walls of his headquarters with some well-armed Russian soldiers and at least 200 angry pro-Russian activists at his gates. Meanwhile, two warships - all that what was left of his fleet of around a dozen vessels - found themselves blocked in their Black Sea berths in Sevastopol by a Russian minesweeper. Full Story | Top |
| Israeli air strike kills two in Gaza: officials Monday, Mar 03, 2014 02:06 PM PST An Israeli air strike on Monday killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who Israel's military said had been preparing to launch a rocket across the border. Palestinian sources said a 24-year-old militant was killed in the strike and a second man later died of his wounds, but hospital officials did not say whether he was also a militant. The air strike was "carried out in order to eliminate an imminent attack targeting civilian communities of southern Israel", a military spokesman said. Gaza is run by the Islamist group Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, but which has been trying to prevent smaller militant groups from firing at Israel. Full Story | Top |
| Pistorius trial witness: 'bloodcurdling screams' then shots Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:53 PM PST  By David Dolan PRETORIA (Reuters) - The first witness at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial told the court on Monday she heard "bloodcurdling screams" from a woman followed by shots, a dramatic opening to a case that could see one of global sport's most admired role models jailed for life. Taking the stand after the Paralympic and Olympic star pleaded not guilty to murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day last year, neighbor Michelle Burger testified that she was woken in the middle of the night by a woman shouting for help. "I was still sitting in the bed and I heard her screams," Burger, who lives 177 meters (194 yards) from Pistorius' home in an adjacent housing complex, told the Pretoria High Court. Thinking it was a violent break-in - a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa - Burger said her husband called the private security firm guarding their upmarket Pretoria housing estate before the pair heard more shouts. Full Story | Top |
| Britain opposes curb on Russian trade over Ukraine crisis: BBC says Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:53 PM PST By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Britain opposes trade sanctions on Russia and does not want to shut London's financial capital to Russians in response to the Kremlin's intervention in Ukraine, the BBC reported, citing a document which was inadvertently shown to a photographer. British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned President Vladimir Putin that Russia will have to pay 'significant costs' unless the Kremlin changes course on Ukraine whose Crimea region is now controlled by Russian forces. But an official document which was photographed as a senior official carried it into a meeting in Cameron's Downing Street residence on Monday showed Britain may oppose sanctions that might undermine London's reputation as a haven for Russian capital. Full Story | Top |
| As China looks on, Putin poses risky dilemma for the West Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:34 PM PST  One senior Obama administration official called Vladimir Putin's actions in the Ukraine "outrageous." A second described them as an "outlaw act." A third said his brazen use of military force harked back to a past century. "What we see here are distinctly 19th and 20th century decisions made by President Putin," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to a group of reporters. "But what he needs to understand is that in terms of his economy, he lives in the 21st century world, an interdependent world." James Jeffrey, a retired career U.S. diplomat, said that view of Putin's mindset cripples the United States' response to the Russian leader. "All of us that have been in the last four administrations have drunk the Kool-Aid," Jeffrey said, referring to the belief that they could talk Putin into seeing the western system as beneficial. Full Story | Top |
| Bahrain blast kills three policemen: Interior Ministry Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:09 PM PST  By Farishta Saeed MANAMA (Reuters) - Three policemen were killed by a remotely detonated bomb in Bahrain on Monday during a protest in a village west of the capital Manama, the Interior Ministry said, in one of the worst incidents of violence in recent months. The United Arab Emirates said one of its police officers, serving in a Gulf Cooperation Council force operating in the island kingdom, was among the three dead officers, according to the UAE state news agency WAM. Bahrain's main opposition groups condemned the bombing as a criminal act and urged followers to ensure that protesters use only peaceful means to push their demands for reforms. Bahrain's Shi'ite majority has long complained of discrimination, a charge denied by the Sunni-led government. Full Story | Top |
| Truckloads of Russian troops arrive in Crimea by ferry: Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 01:03 PM PST Russian forces began moving troops into Ukraine's Crimea region by ferry on Monday after seizing control of the border post on the Ukrainian side of the waterway, Ukraine's border guards said. Russians who seized the isolated Black Sea peninsula have been surrounding the ferry terminal for days but until now had not taken control of Ukraine's border guard station. A border guard spokesman said Russian troops seized the checkpoint after the border guards tried to stop two buses carrying seven armed men, and the next ferry brought three truckloads of soldiers across. Full Story | Top |
| Yemen drone strikes, ambushes kill 10 Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:50 PM PST At least four suspected al Qaeda militants were killed in air strikes in Yemen on Monday, following the deaths of several soldiers in the south of the country, local officials and state news agency Saba reported. The U.S.-allied country which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia has been raked with lawlessness and violence since 2011, when mass protests forced long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. State news agency Saba said armed men set upon the soldiers in a pair of ambushes, killing six, after the soldiers had foiled a mortar and rocket propelled grenade attack on a gas pipeline in the southern Shabwa province. The agency did not identify the attackers but the government often blames Islamists linked to al Qaeda for trying to sabotage the country's infrastructure. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. prepares sanctions against Russia, no decision yet Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:37 PM PST The United States is preparing to impose sanctions on Russia for its military intervention in Ukraine's Crimea region although no decisions have yet been made, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. In her daily briefing, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also said that if reports that Russia has threatened Ukraine's military in the Crimea with attack are true, this would be a "dangerous escalation" of the situation. Full Story | Top |
| Poland requests more NATO consultations over Russia Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:19 PM PST NATO allies will hold emergency talks on the crisis in Ukraine on Tuesday, for the second time in three days, following a request from Poland, the alliance said on Monday. In calling the meeting, Poland, a neighbor of Ukraine, invoked a NATO rule allowing any ally to consult with the others if it feels its security, territorial integrity or independence are under threat, the so-called Article 4. "The developments in and around Ukraine are seen to constitute a threat to neighboring Allied countries and having direct and serious implications for the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area," the alliance said in a statement. NATO meetings under Article 4 are rare. Full Story | Top |
| Algeria's Bouteflika registers for April election Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:14 PM PST  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Monday formally registered his candidacy for April's election, one of the few times the aging independence veteran has spoken in public since suffering a stroke last year. Bouteflika's registration at the Constitutional Council - a formal step for his candidacy - ended months of speculation over his intentions. Algerian state television showed Bouteflika smiling at seated at a table to sign a document at the council, where he handed in petitions for his candidacy for a fourth term. "I am here to register according to electoral law," Bouteflika said. Full Story | Top |
| Jailed opposition leader calls for more Venezuela protests Monday, Mar 03, 2014 12:08 PM PST  By Brian Ellsworth CARACAS (Reuters) - Jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez urged sympathizers on Monday to maintain street protests against President Nicolas Maduro as the country's foreign minister prepared to meet the United Nations Secretary General. Lopez, who was arrested on February 18 after helping launch a nationwide protest movement, demanded top officials including the interior minister resign over the use of force against demonstrators in violence that has killed at least 18 people. "They will never defeat those who refuse to give up." Opposition leaders called for another march on Monday after bringing thousands onto the streets on Sunday, despite the Carnival holiday that usually draws Venezuelans to the beach. Several thousand people gathered in the well-heeled Las Mercedes district of Caracas and marched to the local office of the Organization of American States. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. assures Ukraine neighbor Moldova of support Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:55 AM PST The United States on Monday assured Moldova of its continued support as it pursues a pro-European policy in the face of turmoil in its eastern neighbor Ukraine. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warmly praised visiting Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leanca, saying he was "leading a transformation" in Moldova. Washington last week hosted the leader of Georgia to signal U.S. backing for states in the region which fear the fallout from the collapse of Ukraine's pro-Moscow leader and from Russian steps to shore up its influence. "I regret to say Russia, in some of the challenges that we are seeing right now in Ukraine, has put pressure on Moldova. Full Story | Top |
| U.N. proposes Central African Republic peacekeeping force Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:50 AM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations on Monday proposed a nearly 12,000-strong peacekeeping force for conflict-ravaged Central African Republic that would have a "robust mandate" and initially focus on protecting civilians. The recommendation was included in a report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the 15-nation Security Council. Ban has previously warned that he is gravely concerned the violence could spiral into genocide and that a "de facto partition" of the country was setting in. "The key focus of the United Nations mission in the initial stage must be the protection of civilians," Ban said in his report. Full Story | Top |
| EU tells Russia to withdraw troops or face possible sanctions Monday, Mar 03, 2014 11:46 AM PST By Justyna Pawlak and Luke Baker BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers held out the threat of sanctions against Russia on Monday if Moscow fails to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, while offering to mediate between the two, alongside other international bodies. At talks on the Ukraine crisis in Brussels, they agreed no deadlines or details about any punitive measures that could be put in place against Russia, but leaders of the bloc's 28 nations will hold an emergency summit on Thursday and could take further decisions. The EU discussions were convened abruptly after Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula and said he had the right to invade Ukraine. "We need to see a return to barracks by those troops that have currently moved (from) where they have been staying," the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters after the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. Full Story | Top |
| Cuban dissidents say political arrests top 1,000 in February Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:40 AM PST By Daniel Trotta HAVANA (Reuters) - Politically motivated arrests in Cuba topped 1,000 for a third straight month in February as the result of wider public demonstrations against the one-party state, a leading human rights organization said on Monday. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said arrests in the past three months have nearly doubled from the monthly averages of the previous two years. Reuters could not independently verify the numbers, which the commission's president, Elizardo Sanchez, said were based on first-hand reports from activists around the island. The Cuban government says the commission is illegal and counterrevolutionary, and normally does not respond to its monthly reports. Full Story | Top |
| EU to consider sanctions if Kremlin doesn't step back: Poland Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:39 AM PST WARSAW (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday agreed to consider sanctions on Russia if it does not take steps to defuse the crisis in Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said. "The EU not only asked Russia to de-escalate the situation in Crimea, but said that if Russia does not do that, the EU would consider imposing sanctions," he told Polish broadcaster Polsat News from Brussels. (Reporting by Pawel Bernat; Writing by Christian Lowe) Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian leader urges Russia to stop aggression and piracy Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:35 AM PST Ukraine's acting president said on Monday Russia's military presence was growing in the Crimea region and urged Moscow to halt what he called aggression and piracy. Oleksander Turchinov said the situation was "difficult" in some regions in the south and east of the country, where there are many Russian speakers, but that the Ukrainian authorities had matters there under control. He also said Russia's Black Sea Fleet had trapped Ukrainian navy vessels in the bays of Sevastopol, the Crimean port where the Russian fleet has a base. "The situation in Crimea remains tense and Russia's military presence is growing," Turchinov told a news briefing. Full Story | Top |
| Russian threats against Ukraine would be dangerous escalation: U.S. Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:13 AM PST If reports that Russia has threatened to use force against the Ukrainian military are true, it would be a dangerous escalation of the situation in Ukraine, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. "These reports today of threats of force against Ukrainian military installations would, if true, in our view constitute a dangerous escalation of the situation for which we would hold Russia directly responsible," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in a conference call. Full Story | Top |
| Islamist militants kill 31 more in northeast Nigeria Monday, Mar 03, 2014 10:03 AM PST By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Islamist insurgents have killed at least 31 people in a village in northeast Nigeria, a lawmaker said on Monday, taking the death toll from three days of attacks to 116 as soldiers struggle to contain raging violence. Insurgents have killed more than 400 people in just over a month, security sources say, making it one of the deadliest periods in the Islamist sect Boko Haram's insurgency, which began with an uprising in Borno state in 2009. Gunmen stormed Mafa village in Borno, around 50 km (30 miles) east of the state capital Maiduguri, at around 8 p.m. on Sunday, shooting fleeing civilians and throwing explosives at occupied houses, witness Auwalu Gunda said. State senator Ahmed Zannah said 29 civilians died in the raid and two policemen were killed in a bomb blast on Monday while they were trying to remove bodies and question survivors about the initial attack. Full Story | Top |
| EU leaders to hold summit on Ukraine on Thursday Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:58 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders will meet in Brussels for an emergency summit on Ukraine on Thursday, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said on Monday. EU leaders "will discuss the latest developments in Ukraine and how to facilitate the necessary de-escalation of the situation." (Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Barbara Lewis) Full Story | Top |
| EU calls on Russia to pull troops back to bases Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:56 AM PST The European Union called on Russia on Monday to withdraw its troops to bases and hold consultations with Kiev, while extending the possibility of holding a summit of EU leaders to discuss the crisis in Ukraine. The EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters after emergency talks among EU foreign ministers on the crisis that she "anticipated" the EU to convene a summit on the issue this week. Full Story | Top |
| UAE gives Qatari doctor seven years in jail for backing Islamist group Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:53 AM PST A Qatari physician received a seven-year jail sentence from a court in the United Arab Emirates on Monday for supporting an illegal Islamist group, the UAE state news agency WAM said. The case could further complicate ties between Qatar and the UAE, which both belong to the Western-allied Gulf Cooperation Council, but have diverging views of Islamist political groups that initially thrived after the Arab uprisings of 2011. UAE authorities detained Mahmoud al-Jaidah at Dubai airport on February 26, 2013 on charges of supporting al-Islah, a group in banned in the UAE for its alleged link to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Full Story | Top |
| EU to consider 'targeted measures' if Russia fails to back down on Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:39 AM PST European Union governments agreed on Monday to consider "targeted measures" against Russia if Moscow fails to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine, an EU diplomat said. In a statement agreed at emergency talks on the issue, EU foreign ministers said: "In the absence of de-escalation steps by Russia, the EU should decide on consequences for bilateral relations ... And will consider about possible targeted measures", the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Full Story | Top |
| Pro-Russia protesters occupy regional government in Ukraine's Donetsk Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:37 AM PST By Lina Kushch DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian demonstrators occupied the regional government building in east Ukraine's city of Donetsk on Monday, besieging lawmakers as they voted to support the protesters but stopped short of meeting their demands for a split from Kiev. The chaotic scene in the heart of Ukraine's Russian-speaking east was one of the boldest actions yet by pro-Russian youths after several days of rallies in eastern and southern cities that Kiev says are organized by Moscow as a pretext to invade. The protesters stormed the building and reached the second floor where the regional council sits, despite efforts to keep them out by switching off lifts and sealing stairwell doors. Full Story | Top |
| Russian Black Sea Fleet says no assault ultimatum in Crimea: Interfax Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:34 AM PST Russia's Black Sea Fleet has not issued an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces in Crimea to surrender by 5 a.m. on Tuesday or face an assault, Interfax news agency quoted an official at the fleet's headquarters as saying. Russia's Black Sea Fleet has a base in Crimea and Moscow has effectively established control over the peninsula, which is part of Ukraine. Interfax quoted an unnamed source in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry earlier on Monday as saying a deadline to surrender at 0300 GMT had been set by the Black Sea Fleet's commander. Full Story | Top |
| France warns Russia of 'targeted measures' if tensions persist Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:23 AM PST The European Union will consider "targeted measures" against Russia if tensions do not start easing in Ukraine's Crimea region, France's foreign minister warned Moscow on Monday. "If there is not in the coming hours a very quick de-escalation, then we will decide concrete measures such as the suspension of all talks on visas, suspension of economic agreements and concretely that means that ties will be cut on lot of subjects," Laurent Fabius told BFM TV. In emergency talks convened after Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the Crimean peninsula and said he had the right to invade Ukraine, EU foreign ministers met in Brussels on Monday to try to strike a balance between pressure on Moscow and finding a way to calm the situation. Full Story | Top |
| Czech ministers wary of Russian firms in nuclear plant expansion Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:22 AM PST Two Czech government ministers said on Monday that Russian firms should not be allowed to take part in the expansion of a Czech nuclear power station, worth over $10 billion, after Russian troops seized Ukraine's Crimea region. The Czechs, members of NATO and the European Union, have said Russian actions in Crimea over the weekend broke international law and government leaders likened the incursion to the 1968 Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia. But Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, while condemning Russia's actions, said his country could not break off all economic ties with Russia, a major trade partner. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. cancels presidential delegation to Paralympics over Ukraine Monday, Mar 03, 2014 09:18 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has canceled a presidential delegation to the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, part of its response to Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, National Security Council spokesman Caitlin Hayden said in a statement on Monday. British Prime Minister David Cameron made a similar announcement about his nation's delegation on Sunday. U.S. athletes will participate in the games, which begin on Friday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Bill Trott) Full Story | Top |
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