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| Ill health effects seen as unlikely for New Mexico workers exposed to radiation Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 07:12 PM PST Workers who initially tested positive for radiation exposure after an accidental release at a nuclear waste site in New Mexico are unlikely to experience any ill health effects, site managers said on Wednesday. Early tests of workers - who were above ground at the facility when unsafe levels of radiation were detected last month in an underground salt formation where nuclear waste is stored - showed 13 had inhaled radioactive elements at low levels, officials at the U.S. Department of Energy facility said. But further testing of the 13 workers have shown no further signs of contamination by radioisotopes such as plutonium, and they are thus unlikely to experience any health effects, managers at the facility said on Wednesday. "Follow-up testing of employees who were exposed to airborne radioactive material during the February 14 radiation release at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant shows exposure levels were extremely low and the employees are unlikely to experience any health effects as a result," managers said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Singapore police probe 'unnatural' death of American CEO of bitcoin trader Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 06:34 PM PST Singapore police are investigating what they have called the "unnatural" death of a 28-year-old American woman who ran a small exchange that traded virtual currencies, including bitcoins, from the Asian city state. Autumn Radtke, chief executive of First Meta Pte Ltd, was found dead at her Singapore home on Feb 26. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Trafficking abuse of Myanmar Rohingya spreads to Malaysia Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 06:31 PM PST  By Stuart Grudgings BUKIT MERTAJAM, Malaysia (Reuters) - Human traffickers have kept hundreds of Rohingya Muslims captive in houses in northern Malaysia, beating them, depriving them of food, and demanding a ransom from their families, according to detailed accounts by the victims. The accounts given to Reuters suggest that trafficking gangs are shifting their operations into Malaysia as Thai authorities crack down on jungle camps near the border that have become a prison for the Muslim asylum seekers fleeing persecution in Myanmar. Police in the northern Malaysian states of Penang and Kedah have conducted several raids on the houses in recent months, including an operation in February that discovered four Rohingya men bound together with metal chains in an apartment. But Reuters' interviews reveal a trafficking network on a far bigger scale than authorities have acknowledged so far, with brokers herding groups of hundreds of Rohingya at night over the border and holding them captive in the Southeast Asian country. Full Story | Top |
| In Ukraine's Crimea, a tense and surreal standoff Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 05:28 PM PST  By Alissa de Carbonnel KERCH, Ukraine (Reuters) - Holed up on their bases, Ukraine's besieged servicemen and the Russians surrounding them in Crimea are locked in a standoff that at times is tense and at others surreal. Almost a week after Russian forces began their swift and bloodless takeover of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, there is a standoff as the two sides dig in and play a waiting game. "Where it was possible they made a show of it ... They came and pushed the door in, but you can't come push our door," said Major Alexei Nikiforov, deputy commander of a Ukrainian marine battalion in Kerch, just across a narrow strait from Russia. Russian navy ships have blockaded the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, Ukrainian officials say, portraying it as part of efforts to seal off the Ukrainian servicemen and force them to surrender or change sides. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. accuses Syria of stonewalling on chemical arms plants Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 04:38 PM PST  By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Syria is stonewalling members of the global chemical weapons watchdog and refusing to seriously negotiate on the destruction of its facilities used to produce poison gas, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Wednesday. The sharp criticism of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad came after the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague said Syria has shipped about a third of its chemical weapons stockpile, including mustard gas, for destruction abroad. "OPCW trying to reach agreement to destroy CW production facilities—#Syria refusing to seriously negotiate & is (about) to miss another deadline," U.S. Ambassador Samantha Powers said on her Twitter feed. Last year Syria had asked the OPCW for permission to convert for peaceful use some of the facilities declared under its weapons program, but Western diplomats said they were loath to accept such a plan as it could leave Syria with a residual chemical weapons capability. Full Story | Top |
| Big power talks on Ukraine crisis make little progress Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 04:35 PM PST  By John Irish and Timothy Heritage PARIS/KIEV (Reuters) - High-level diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine made little apparent headway at talks in Paris on Wednesday, with Moscow and Washington at odds and Russia's foreign minister refusing to recognize his Ukrainian counterpart. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said discussions would continue in the coming days in an attempt to stabilize the crisis and he expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again in Rome on Thursday. We have a number of ideas on the table," he said after talks with ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Britain and France. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Chavez remembered with pomp and protests Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 04:27 PM PST  By Andrew Cawthorne and Girish Gupta CARACAS (Reuters) - Followers of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez flooded the streets of Venezuela on Wednesday for the anniversary of his death, an emotional but welcome distraction for his successor from violent protests raging for the last month. A year after Chavez succumbed to cancer, his self-proclaimed "son," President Nicolas Maduro, faces the biggest challenge to his rule from an explosion of anti-government demonstrations that have led to 18 deaths since February. A hard core of students are determined to maintain street barricades and militant opposition leaders organize daily rallies around Venezuela. There's not a single day I don't remember Hugo," Chavez's cousin, Guillermo Frias, 60, said from Los Rastrojos village in rural Barinas state, where the pair used to play baseball as kids. Full Story | Top |
| British coalition partners to trade barbs over immigration Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 04:02 PM PST  By William James LONDON (Reuters) - A deep rift in Britain's two-party coalition government will be laid bare on Thursday when ministers from each party set out their opposing views on whether immigration is good or bad for the country. Speaking at separate events on the same day, Conservative immigration minister James Brokenshire will say immigration is damaging Britain and must be reduced, while Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable will declare himself "intensely relaxed" about migrants working and studying in the country. Both parties are using immigration as an issue to distinguish themselves and appeal to their core voters after nearly four years of co-governance. Opinion polls regularly show immigration to be one of voters' top three concerns. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. accuses Russia's Putin of making "false claims" about Ukraine Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 04:00 PM PST By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department dropped its diplomatic niceties on Wednesday and all but accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of lying about events in Ukraine, publishing a list of what it said were 10 of his "false claims." A "fact sheet" released by the State Department's press office said Putin had ignored or distorted the facts in "justifying Russian aggression in the Ukraine." The publication of the document, entitled "President Putin's Fiction: 10 False Claims about Ukraine," is highly unusual for the State Department, which typically does not issue statements in public that a foreign leader is being untruthful. Russia and the West face their most serious confrontation since the end of the Cold War over influence in Ukraine, a major commodities exporter and strategic link between East and West. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine crisis: CIA, not Pentagon, forecast Russian move - sources Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 03:19 PM PST By Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Until recently, collecting intelligence on Ukraine was a low priority for U.S. spy agencies, and as a result their reporting on recent developments was patchy, several current and former U.S. security officials said this week. The Central Intelligence Agency says it was following events closely enough to have outlined scenarios in which upheaval in Ukraine would become so intense that Russia would take military action. Two national security sources said the CIA had specifically warned policymakers, shortly before the Russian military moved into the Crimean peninsula, that such a move could be imminent. The Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, however, predicted such a move was unlikely, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. Full Story | Top |
| California governor seeks drought help from Israel's Netanyahu Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 03:08 PM PST  California Governor Jerry Brown told visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that he hoped Israeli water technology could help his state deal with a devastating drought. Netanyahu, on a visit to Silicon Valley, and Brown signed a memorandum of understanding for research and development cooperation in various technological fields, including water conservation. "Israel has demonstrated how efficient a country can be, and there is a great opportunity for collaboration," Brown said. Netanyahu said Israel's expertise in wastewater recycling, desalination and drip irrigation had solved its water problems. Full Story | Top |
| Groups sue EPA to force it to move on pesticide disclosures Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 02:50 PM PST Three environmental and public health groups sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, seeking to press it to move forward with rules that would require public disclosure of certain pesticide ingredients. The Center for Environmental Health, Beyond Pesticides, and Physicians for Social Responsibility, all non-profit advocacy groups, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The groups claimed there has been an "unreasonable delay" on the EPA's part in finalizing rules to require chemical manufacturers to disclose hazardous inert ingredients in their pesticide products. Full Story | Top |
| North Korean-flagged tanker tries docking at seized Libyan oil port Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 02:37 PM PST By Ulf Laessing and Julia Payne TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - A North Korean-flagged oil tanker tried to dock at Libya's Es-Sider oil port seized by armed protesters who have threatened to sell oil independently unless they get political autonomy from Tripoli, Libyan officials said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear whether the Morning Glory tanker wanted to load oil when it approached the port on Tuesday, but any attempt to get crude to world markets independently would be an escalation of a blockade that has slashed Libya's vital oil exports. State-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) has declared force majeure at the port and warned tankers against approaching because the Es-Sider terminal and two others in Libya's volatile east are under the control of heavily armed protesters. Libya's government has tried to end a wave of protests at oil ports and fields across the North African country, which have slashed oil output, the country's lifeline, to a trickle. Full Story | Top |
| Costa Rica candidate quits election bid, paves way for leftist Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 02:27 PM PST  By Zach Dyer SAN JOSE (Reuters) - Costa Rica's ruling party candidate Johnny Araya on Wednesday abandoned his presidential campaign a month before a runoff, a move that appeared to guarantee victory for leftist former diplomat Luis Guillermo Solis. Araya, of the ruling centrist National Liberation Party (PLN), said he would no longer campaign, though under the constitution his name will remain on the ballot. He said he had made the decision after polls showed him way behind Solis. A favorite to win before the first round of voting in February, Araya has been beset by voter resentment over government corruption scandals under President Laura Chinchilla and rising inequality. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela breaks ties with Panama over 'conspiracy' Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 02:05 PM PST CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday he was breaking diplomatic and commercial relations with the Panamanian government due to a "conspiracy" against him. "We're not going to let anyone get away with interfering with our fatherland, you despicable lackey, president of Panama," Maduro said in a speech to commemorate the anniversary of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez's death. (Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne and Eyanir Chinea; Editing by Chris Reese) Full Story | Top |
| Putin: military force would be 'last resort' in Ukraine Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:56 PM PST  By John Irish and Timothy Heritage PARIS/KIEV (Reuters) - High-level diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Ukraine made little apparent headway at talks in Paris on Wednesday with Moscow and Washington at odds and Russia's foreign minister refusing to recognize his Ukrainian counterpart. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said discussions would continue in the coming days in an attempt to stabilize the crisis and he expected to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov again in Rome on Thursday. "Don't assume that we did not have serious conversations which produced creative and appropriate ideas on how to resolve this, we have a number of ideas on the table," he said after talks with ministers from Ukraine, Russia, Britain and France. Russia had earlier rebuffed Western demands that its forces that have seized control of Ukraine's Crimea region should return to their bases. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Britain's Cameron consult on Ukraine Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:48 PM PST President Barack Obama spoke to British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday about the situation in Ukraine, the White House said. The two leaders spoke by phone as Obama flew from Washington aboard Air Force One to Connecticut. "The leaders expressed their grave concern over Russia's clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and both noted that the current circumstances are unacceptable," a White House statement said. Obama and Cameron discussed international support for Ukraine as it seeks to stabilize its economy and prepare for elections in May. They noted a dip in the Russian stock market in recent days, saying it was a sign that "Russia has already started to pay a cost for its actions, such as reducing investor confidence in Russia," the White House said. Full Story | Top |
| Toronto police chief hands off case linked to embattled mayor Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:48 PM PST  By Allison Martell TORONTO (Reuters) - Ontario authorities have agreed to a request from Toronto's police chief to supervise an investigation that has already resulted in extortion charges against an alleged drug dealer and associate of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, a probe the mayor contends is politically motivated. Toronto Police have declined to say much about Ford's role, if any, in the case against his friend and occasional driver, Sandro Lisi. But police documents released last fall showed that the mayor, now running for re-election, had been under surveillance for months. His admission of drug use came days after Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said his force, during an earlier investigation called Project Traveler, had obtained a video featuring the mayor that was consistent with media reports about a video clip showing Ford appearing to smoking crack. Full Story | Top |
| More U.S. jets on NATO patrol in Baltics amid Ukraine crisis: source Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:37 PM PST By Phil Stewart and David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon will more than double the number of U.S. fighter jets on a NATO air patrol mission in the Baltics and do more training with Poland's air force as it strives to reassure allies alarmed by the crisis in Ukraine, officials said on Wednesday. General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate hearing that he had directed the U.S. military's European Command to "consult and plan within the construct of the North Atlantic Council" while stressing the intent was to help stabilize the situation in ... Full Story | Top |
| Activists replant Russian flag above HQ in Ukraine city Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:14 PM PST By Lina Kushch DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Moscow activists recaptured the administrative headquarters of the eastern city of Donetsk and flew the Russian flag from its roof on Wednesday, hours after Kiev's authorities managed to fly their own flag there for the first time since Saturday. While the group of a few hundred pro-Moscow protesters was recapturing the building, however, a far larger demonstration gathered elsewhere in the city in favor of the authorities in Kiev, a sign of a backlash among some people towards Moscow's allies in Ukraine's Russian-speaking heartland. Full Story | Top |
| Japan's tsunami survivors suffer in silence three years after disaster Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:13 PM PST  By Mari Saito RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan (Reuters) - Hatsuko Ishikawa never got a final look at her 36-year-old son, a firefighter, before he was swept away by the tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast coast three years ago. Ishikawa only heard his voice, bellowing from his fire engine as he sped towards the sea to try to evacuate people before the wave struck. As the truck raced past, Ishikawa heard her son call out to her grandson, telling the boy to evacuate to higher ground. "I blame myself over and over again, asking myself why I didn't stop him," said Ishikawa, 65, as she sat in the spartan shelter where she has lived since that day. Full Story | Top |
| China's Xi ramps up military spending in face of worried region Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:11 PM PST  By Michael Martina and Greg Torode BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China announced its biggest rise in military spending in three years on Wednesday, a strong signal from President Xi Jinping that Beijing is not about to back away from its growing assertiveness in Asia, especially in disputed waters. The government said it would increase the defense budget by 12.2 percent this year to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.57 billion), as China seeks to develop more high-tech weapons and to beef up coastal and air defenses. "This is worrying news for China's neighbors, particularly for Japan," said Rory Medcalf, a regional security analyst at the independent Lowy Institute in Sydney. The 2014 defense budget is the first for Xi, a so-called princeling - or a son of a late Communist Party elder - and the increase in spending appears to reflect his desire to build what he calls a strong, rejuvenated China. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. restricts movements of Syria's U.N. envoy Ja'afari Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 01:00 PM PST  The U.S. State Department announced on Wednesday that it has ordered Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari to remain within a 25-mile (40-km) radius of New York City, similar to restrictions that apply to Iranian and North Korean envoys. A pro-opposition Syrian-American group, the Coalition for a Democratic Syria, welcomed the announcement in a statement, saying that for the past six months Ja'afari was engaged in what it described as a "series of propaganda tours across the United States" to mislead people and sow discord among Syrians there. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki was asked about Ja'afari at the daily briefing by reporters in Washington. Full Story | Top |
| NATO announces review of cooperation with Russia Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 12:58 PM PST By Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO announced a full review of its cooperation with Russia on Wednesday to try to pressure Moscow into backing down on Ukraine and said it would suspend planning for a joint mission linked to Syrian chemical weapons. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said alliance officials would no longer hold lower-level meetings with their Russian counterparts, while stepping up engagement with the civilian and military leadership of Ukraine, not a NATO member. "We have also decided that no staff-level civilian or military meetings with Russia will take place for now," Rasmussen told reporters after a meeting between NATO and Russian officials in Brussels. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. aid bill for Ukraine will not include IMF funding: aide Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 12:25 PM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A financial aid package for Ukraine that the U.S. House of Representatives plans to vote on soon will not include funding for the International Monetary Fund, a senior House Republican aide said on Wednesday. For a year now, the Obama administration has been pushing Congress to approve a shift of some $63 billion from an IMF crisis fund to its general accounts to make good on an international commitment made in 2010. U.S. failure to approve the funding has held up reforms to the global lender that would double its resources and give more say to emerging markets. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.N. envoy forced out of Crimea by hostile pro-Russian crowd Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 12:19 PM PST  A U.N. special envoy was forced to abandon a mission to Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimea region on Wednesday after being detained and besieged inside a cafe by a hostile crowd shouting "Russia! Russia!" Dutch diplomat Robert Serry flew to Istanbul after the incident. His interpreter, Vadim Kastelli, said he was escorted to the airport without being given a chance to pick up his bags from his hotel and placed on the first flight out. Kastelli, who was with Serry at the time, said the incident began when Serry was blocked by a group of men in civilian clothes after a meeting at a Ukrainian military compound. Kastelli said he saw no weapons, although a journalist for Britain's ITN television said Serry told him at least one of the men was armed. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt lobbies Germany to ease travel advisory: minister Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 12:08 PM PST  By Maria Sheahan BERLIN (Reuters) - Egypt is urging Germany to ease its advice against travel to the entire Sinai peninsula after security concerns following the fatal bombing of a tourist bus prompted operators to bring back holidaymakers from the Sharm el-Sheikh Red Sea resort last week. "The latest crisis that we are in today is the negative travel advisory by the German government," Egypt's Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou told Reuters in an interview at the ITB travel fair in Berlin on Wednesday. The bombing of a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai killed at least two South Koreans and the Egyptian driver last month in the first attack on tourists since a July army takeover in Cairo spurred an Islamist insurgency. The attack has led to renewed concerns for tourism in Egypt, an industry that provides a livelihood for millions and brings in much-needed foreign currency for the government. Full Story | Top |
| Pentagon more than doubling jets in NATO air policing mission Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:51 AM PST The Pentagon is more than doubling the number fighter jets it is sending to a NATO air policing mission in the Baltics and is sending one aerial refueling aircraft, a U.S. official said on Wednesday, part of Washington's response to the Ukraine crisis. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced plans earlier on Wednesday to bolster the decade-old NATO mission, which patrols skies over Baltic allies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Pentagon will send six additional F-15 jets and one KC-135 refueling aircraft to augment the mission this week. Full Story | Top |
| Canada to impose economic sanctions on Yanukovich's inner circle Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:49 AM PST OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will impose economic sanctions on those who worked for ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Wednesday. Harper has been a particularly strong critic of Russia's actions in Ukraine. "At the request of the prosecutor-general of Ukraine, we will be imposing economic sanctions on members of the Yanukovich regime," Harper told Parliament. He gave no further details. ... Full Story | Top |
| Estonia denies leaked call implicates Ukraine protesters in killings Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:39 AM PST Estonia denied on Wednesday that a leaked telephone call showed that its foreign minister had blamed opponents of Ukraine's deposed president for sniper killings during last month's unrest - as Russian media have suggested. The Baltic state acknowledged that the audio recording of a conversation between Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton was authentic, but rejected the way some have interpreted it. The recording, published on YouTube, was picked up by Russian state television and was the top item on state news agency RIA-Novosti. Rossyia-24 state TV dubbed parts into Russian and suggested the EU now had proof that sniper shootings at police and protesters had been carried out by the same people. Full Story | Top |
| Israel seizes arms shipment Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:34 AM PST  By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria and intended for Palestinian guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, the military said. The disclosure came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in the United States to press his case for tougher international action against Iran over its disputed nuclear program and support for Islamist guerrilla groups. The Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Klos C was boarded in international waters without resistance from its 17-strong crew in a "complex, covert operation," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters. Lerner said dozens of M302 rockets were found aboard the Klos C, a weapon which could have struck deep into Israel from Gaza and would have significantly enhanced the firepower of the Palestinian enclave's Hamas rulers and other armed factions. Full Story | Top |
| North Korean-flagged tanker tried docking at Libyan oil port Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:28 AM PST TRIPOLI/LONDON (Reuters) - A North Korean-flagged oil tanker tried to dock at Libya's Es-Sider oil port seized by armed protesters demanding more autonomy from the government, the Libyan navy and oil officials said on Wednesday. The tanker Morning Glory approached the port on Tuesday but later left, navy spokesman Ayoub Qassem and officials at state-owned National Oil Corp (NOC) said. NOC has declared force majeure at the port and warned any tankers against approaching as the Es-Sider terminal is under the control of protesters who have said they might try selling oil bypassing the Tripoli government. It was not immediately clear whether those on the ship tried to buy oil from protesters but any attempt to get crude to world markets independently would be an escalation of the blockade that has slashed Libya's vital oil exports. Full Story | Top |
| Lavrov leaves Paris talks without meeting Ukrainian counterpart: diplomats Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:24 AM PST Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov left talks on the Ukrainian crisis in Paris on Wednesday without having met his Ukrainian counterpart, Western diplomats said. Lavrov, who earlier held talks with foreign ministers from the United States, France, Germany and Britain, said further discussions on Ukraine would take place "in days to come". Earlier, a senior U.S. State Department official denied Russian reports that Moscow and the Western powers had agreed that the Ukrainian government and opposition need to stick to the EU-brokered peace deal. "There were no agreements in this meeting, and there never will be without direct Ukrainian government involvement and absolute buy-in," the official said. Full Story | Top |
| Britain to freeze assets of 18 Ukrainians after EU deal Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:24 AM PST LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's finance ministry said on Wednesday it would join other European Union countries in freezing the assets of 18 Ukrainians suspected of misappropriating state funds, in line with an agreement reached by the EU earlier in the day. European Union governments confirmed on Wednesday that they would freeze the assets of 18 Ukrainians, at Kiev's request, after Ukraine's new rulers said billions in public funds had gone missing. ... Full Story | Top |
| Street fighting as India heads for April-May election Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:18 AM PST  By Frank Jack Daniel NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Street clashes erupted in India after an announcement on Wednesday that parliamentary elections will start on April 7 in a race that pits Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi against the unpopular Nehru-Gandhi family's ruling party. In Delhi and a regional city, supporters of a young anti-corruption party battled members of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Small groups of supporters gathered outside BJP offices to protest his detention. We shouted slogans: 'Have shame Narendra Modi'," said AAP activist Shazia Ilmi. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. defends Japan against China's plutonium criticism Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:16 AM PST By Fredrik Dahl VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States and China disagreed over Japan's plutonium stocks at a U.N. nuclear agency meeting on Wednesday, with Washington saying it did not share Beijing's concern about the sensitive issue, diplomats said. China expressed concern about the size of Japan's plutonium holdings at a board session of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), diplomats who attended closed-door discussions at the U.N. body said. Like uranium, plutonium can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, but can also provide material for nuclear bombs. The U.S. ambassador to the IAEA made clear his country was not worried about Japan's treatment of the material. Full Story | Top |
| Putin, Germany's Merkel discuss efforts to resolve Ukraine crisis: Kremlin Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:16 AM PST MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed possible international efforts to help improve the situation in Ukraine in a phone call, the Kremlin said in a statement on Wednesday. The West has threatened sanctions against Russia which effectively occupied Crimea after the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovich. Moscow accused the Western powers of supporting a "coup" to topple him and did not recognize the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities. (Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) Full Story | Top |
| Clashes erupt at army base in tense South Sudan Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:15 AM PST By Carl Odera and Aaron Maasho JUBA/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - At least five soldiers were killed in fighting between soldiers over delayed salaries at a barracks in South Sudan's capital on Wednesday, an army spokesman said, three months after clashes in the same military base triggered a broader conflict. Although the spokesman said that situation at the barracks was under control, fresh gunfire echoed across the city on Wednesday night. Witnesses contacted by telephone in several parts of the city said they were taking shelter inside. One U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia says NATO applies "cold war" standards Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:05 AM PST BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Russia's envoy to NATO accused the alliance of applying double standards and "Cold War" stereotypes to Russia after NATO announced a review of all cooperation with Moscow over tensions in Ukraine. "This meeting proved that NATO still has a double standard policy. And Cold War stereotypes are still applied towards Russia," Alexander Grushko told reporters after a meeting of NATO and Russian officials to discuss Ukraine on Wednesday. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall) Full Story | Top |
| Kuwait's emir could heal Gulf rift with Qatar: speaker Wednesday, Mar 05, 2014 11:03 AM PST KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's ruling emir could help soothe a diplomatic rift between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, Kuwait's parliament speaker said on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE said they were withdrawing their ambassadors from Qatar because Doha had not implemented an agreement among Gulf Arab states to avoid interfering in each other's affairs. "We follow with concern the implications," Kuwaiti parliament speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim said, according to state news agency KUNA. ... Full Story | Top |
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