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| Colombia court backs Santos in sea boundary dispute with Nicaragua Friday, May 02, 2014 07:53 PM PDT Colombia's constitutional court ruled on Friday that applying a decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that granted Nicaragua a disputed area of Caribbean waters could not take effect without a treaty between the countries. The court's verdict upholds the position taken by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who said the Hague-based ICJ's decision was not applicable according to Colombia's constitution without such a treaty, ratified by the Andean nation's congress. The ICJ in November 2012 reduced the area of ocean that belonged to Colombia around its cluster of Caribbean islands, determining that a section of their maritime shelf belonged to Nicaragua. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Merkel still struggle over spying but agree on trade Friday, May 02, 2014 05:52 PM PDT  By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel could not hide differences on Friday over U.S. surveillance practices despite Obama's offer of "cyber dialogue" with Berlin and a pledge to bridge gaps that have tarnished their relationship. The two leaders have been at odds over the U.S. National Security Agency's spying habits since revelations from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden last year showed the United States had listened in on many of its allies, including Merkel. Obama has since banned the practice of eavesdropping on allied political leaders, but the measure has not placated Germany. "We have a few difficulties yet to overcome," Merkel said in a joint news conference with Obama at the White House, referring to the conflict and pointedly declining to say, when asked, that trust between the two nations had been restored. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Merkel vow broader Russian sanctions if Ukraine election derailed Friday, May 02, 2014 04:14 PM PDT By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Russia on Friday it will face additional sanctions against key sectors of its economy if Moscow disrupts Ukraine's plan to hold elections on May 25. The two leaders linked the threat to the election when they addressed a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden after Oval Office talks dominated by the situation in Ukraine. Obama and Merkel said they were united in vowing to move to the tougher sanctions but made clear there were still negotiations to determine how to structure the sanctions should they be necessary. The election is to choose a successor to President Viktor Yanukovitch, the pro-Russian leader who resigned in the face of unrelenting protests and whose ouster has provoked the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War. Full Story | Top |
| New EU force in Central African Republic sets stability as top priority Friday, May 02, 2014 03:48 PM PDT  By Crispin Dembassa-Kette BANGUI (Reuters) - The top priority of a new European Union peacekeeping force in Central African Republic is to restore stability in the capital, the force commander, French Major-General Philippe Ponties, told a news conference on Friday. Thousands of people have been killed in intercommunal violence in the former French colony in recent months and close to a million have been displaced from their homes. "The objective that we are looking for, and which I think we share with most of the international community, is to make it so each citizen of Central African Republic, whatever their communal background, can see a positive future," Ponties said. "There will be 850 soldiers (by June) who will be deployed to contribute to the security of the airport in Bangui and the establishment of a stable and secure environment in the third and fifth districts of the capital," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Dozens die in Odessa, rebels down Ukraine helicopters Friday, May 02, 2014 03:13 PM PDT  By Maria Tsvetkova SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Dozens of people were killed in a fire and others were shot dead when fighting between pro- and anti-Russian groups broke out on the streets of Odessa on Ukraine's Black Sea coast on Friday, opening a new front in a conflict that has split the country. In the east, pro-Russian separatists brought down two Ukrainian military helicopters involved in a pre-dawn operation to try to dislodge the militants from their strongholds in the town of Slaviansk. The separatists said three of their number had been killed, and two civilians, while the defense ministry said two crew from the downed helicopters died and two other servicemen were killed when separatists attacked them on Friday evening. "Heavy fighting is continuing," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan leader ready for talks but rival doesn't commit Friday, May 02, 2014 03:06 PM PDT  By Phil Stewart JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir said on Friday he was ready for face-to-face talks with rebel leader Riek Machar to try and end months of fighting in the world's newest nation, but his rival held off from promising to take part. Kiir spoke hours after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met him in South Sudan's capital Juba to urge him to help end the conflict - part of a diplomatic push by Western and African powers who fear it could tip into full-blown ethnic slaughter and destabilize an already fragile region. "In the interest of peace in our country, I am willing and ready for face-to-face talks with Machar," Kiir was quoted as saying in a statement released by the government of Kenya, where he flew to brief his regional counterparts after meeting Kerry. Full Story | Top |
| Bombs, protests hit Egypt in run-up to presidential election Friday, May 02, 2014 01:55 PM PDT  By Shadia Nasralla and Tom Perry CAIRO (Reuters) - Two suicide bombings in Egypt's South Sinai killed a soldier and wounded at least eight people and two other bombs killed two people in Cairo on Friday, less than four weeks before a presidential election is due to be held, official sources said. In other violence in the port city of Alexandria, two people were shot dead when supporters of deposed President Mohamed Mursi clashed with residents, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Militant attacks and other political violence have spiraled since the army overthrew Mursi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, last July after mass protests against his rule. Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led the action, is expected to win the presidential election on May 26 and 27. Full Story | Top |
| Car bomb kills one in central Cairo: security sources Friday, May 02, 2014 01:41 PM PDT CAIRO (Reuters) - A car bomb killed one person near a metro station in downtown Cairo on Friday, three security sources said, in the second blast in Egypt's capital after an earlier bomb attack killed a policeman in a different district. Two suicide bombers killed a soldier in South Sinai earlier on Friday and wounded at least seven others, official sources said. (Reporting By Shadia Nasralla, Ediitng by Angus MacSwan) Full Story | Top |
| Merkel: Give Iran talks a chance, but ready to act if needed Friday, May 02, 2014 01:13 PM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program have to be given a chance, but sanctions could still be reinstated if needed. Merkel said Iran had to comply with an agreement under which Tehran agreed to limit parts of its nuclear work in return for the easing of some sanctions. "If Iran does not meet its obligations, or does not meet them adequately, we remain ready to take back the current limited suspension of sanctions," she said at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event. Full Story | Top |
| Nine killed in clashes between separatists and Islamists in Mali Friday, May 02, 2014 01:06 PM PDT Nine people were killed in clashes in northern Mali this week between suspected Islamists and Tuareg separatist forces, separatist and military sources said on Friday. The clashes north of the city of Timbuktu involved separatists and suspected members of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA), a group linked to al Qaeda, said a separatist spokesman and two military sources who declined to be identified. "The fighting is over," said Akay Ag Mohamed, a spokesman in the northern town of Kidal for the separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA). We took seven prisoners and killed nine of the enemy." The landlocked former French colony of Mali was thrown into turmoil when Islamist fighters took advantage of a 2012 rebellion led by Tuaregs and seized control of the country's north. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine says two soldiers killed near Slaviansk after rebel attack Friday, May 02, 2014 01:01 PM PDT Two Ukrainian servicemen have been killed on the outskirts of the eastern town of Slaviansk after pro-Russian separatists attacked their position, Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Northern Ireland police extend Gerry Adams detention in 1972 murder probe Friday, May 02, 2014 01:00 PM PDT  By Padraic Halpin ANTRIM, Northern Ireland (Reuters) - Northern Ireland police extended the detention of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams by two days on Friday to give detectives more time to question him about a 1972 murder, raising the stakes in a case that has rocked the British province. Adams' arrest over the killing of Jean McConville was among the most significant in Northern Ireland since a 1998 peace deal ended decades of tit-for-tat killings between Irish Catholic nationalists and mostly Protestant pro-British loyalists. Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Fein member and close Adams ally, said the decision by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to seek an extension confirmed his view that the arrest was politically motivated. Full Story | Top |
| Risk of genocide seen in South Sudan conflict: U.N. official Friday, May 02, 2014 12:42 PM PDT UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The conflict in South Sudan has quickly degenerated into ethnic violence and there is a risk the fighting could spiral into genocide, Adama Dieng, the United Nations' special adviser on prevention of genocide, said on Friday. "In the current situation, we see elements that we could categorize as risk factors of genocide and other atrocity crimes," Dieng told the U.N. Security Council. ... Full Story | Top |
| Verizon, AT&T say California probes their waste disposal Friday, May 02, 2014 12:42 PM PDT  By Marina Lopes NEW YORK (Reuters) - California is investigating whether top mobile carriers Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc illegally disposed of hazardous waste at their facilities in the state, the companies said in recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision. The California Attorney General's office is determining whether the companies violated state hazardous waste laws when disposing of batteries, aerosol cans and electronic waste, according to a AT&T annual regulatory filing from February and a quarterly filing from October 2013. The companies say they are cooperating with the investigations and reviewing their hazardous waste management. Full Story | Top |
| Hundreds killed, thousands missing in Afghan landslide Friday, May 02, 2014 12:32 PM PDT  By Mirwais Harooni KABUL (Reuters) - Hundreds of people have been killed and more than 2,000 are missing after a landslide smashed into a village in a mountainous area of north Afghanistan on Friday, and rescue teams were struggling to reach the remote area. Triggered by heavy rain, the side of a mountain collapsed into the village in Argo district at around 11 a.m. (2.30 a.m. ET) as people were trying to recover their belongings and livestock after a smaller landslip hit their homes a few hours earlier. At least 100 people were being treated for injuries, according to Colonel Abdul Qadeer Sayad, a deputy police chief of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan. Seasonal rains and spring snow melt have caused heavy destruction across large swathes of northern Afghanistan, killing more than 100 people. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish party keeps term limit, hinting at Erdogan presidency Friday, May 02, 2014 12:28 PM PDT  By Orhan Coskun ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey's ruling AK Party decided on Friday to maintain a three-term limit for its deputies, the clearest signal yet that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will run in the nation's first direct election for president in August. There has been speculation the AKP would change its rules to enable Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, to stay on as prime minister for a fourth term and finish off a power struggle with an influential Islamic cleric he accuses of seeking to topple him. But in a five-hour meeting to discuss election strategy, chaired by Erdogan, the party's executive board decided not to amend the three-term limit, an internal regulation which the prime minister himself has long publicly championed. "It was decided appropriate to take no steps on the three-term rule," AKP spokesman Huseyin Celik said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Merkel: Russia sanctions must be mixed to spread EU pain Friday, May 02, 2014 12:22 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday the European Union and the United States need to find a mix of sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis so that no single EU country bears the brunt of the impact. Russia is a major EU trading partner. (Reporting by Krista Hughes; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| Russia, West accuse each other of hypocrisy on Ukraine Friday, May 02, 2014 12:22 PM PDT By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Western powers and Russia on Friday used an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council to accuse each other of hypocrisy and double standards in confronting the escalating crisis in Ukraine. Russia called for the session to condemn what it described as a "punitive" and "criminal" Ukrainian military operation in the southeastern city of Slaviansk against pro-Russian rebels. The Security Council has held more than a dozen meetings on the Ukraine crisis but has taken no formal action due to the deep disagreements among Russia, Britain, France and the United States - four of its five veto-wielding permanent members. In their speeches, Britain and Lithuania voiced surprise at Russia's willingness to condemn what they said was a measured and justifiable operation by Kiev against armed pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow while keeping silent about Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's attacks on his own people. Full Story | Top |
| More than 40 killed in fire, clashes in Ukraine's Odessa Friday, May 02, 2014 12:18 PM PDT  By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - More than 40 people were killed in Odessa on Friday, most caught in a building set on fire after pro-Russian activists and supporters of Ukrainian unity fought running battles across the southern port city. In the worst violence in the Black Sea port since President Viktor Yanukovich was ousted in February, police said 38 people had choked to death on smoke or were killed when jumping out of windows after the trade union building was set on fire. The opposing sides in a battle that is being repeated in other parts of Ukraine, especially in its east, have clashed before in Odessa, but the violence has never before resulted in deaths. Waving the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag, wearing helmets and holding batons, thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets to march in support of the European path taken by Kiev. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela says 58 foreigners among unrest detainees Friday, May 02, 2014 12:14 PM PDT  By Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Friday that 58 foreigners had been arrested on suspicion of inciting anti-government protests and violence that have rocked the South American for the last three months. Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres told a news conference that Colombians, an American, a Spaniard and an Arab were among the scores of "mercenaries" rounded up before and during demonstrations against the socialist government. The U.S. citizen, detained in Tachira state, had been previously identified as Todd Michael Leininger, and is accused of arms trafficking and attempted murder. President Nicolas Maduro, who seems to have faced down the worst of the protests, alleges his opponents were planning a coup against him, with the connivance of the United States, like the brief toppling of his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002. Full Story | Top |
| Northern Ireland Police extend Gerry Adams detention by 48 hours Friday, May 02, 2014 12:10 PM PDT DUBLIN (Reuters) - Northern Ireland police secured court permission on Friday to extend by 48 hours the detention of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams for questioning about a 1972 murder during the province's conflict. "Detectives from PSNI Serious Crime Branch investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972 have been granted an extra 48 hours to interview the 65-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the investigation on Wednesday," a spokesman said. (Reporting by Conor Humphries, Editing by Angus MacSwan) Full Story | Top |
| At least 38 killed in fire in Ukraine's southern Odessa port Friday, May 02, 2014 12:09 PM PDT At least 38 people were killed in a fire on Friday in the trade union building in the centre of Ukraine's southern port city of Odessa, regional police said. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine crisis highlights NATO defense spending problem: Hagel Friday, May 02, 2014 12:08 PM PDT  By David Alexander WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia's actions in Ukraine have shattered the myth of European security in the post-Cold War era and underscored the danger NATO allies have created by failing to meet their defense spending pledges, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Friday. The Pentagon chief, in a speech on the future of the 28-nation alliance, said Russia's seizure of the Crimean peninsula and other actions "reminded NATO of its founding purpose" and "presented a clarifying moment for the transatlantic alliance." "NATO must stand ready to revisit the basic principles underlying its relationship with Russia," Hagel said in remarks at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. Full Story | Top |
| West struggles for winning formula on Russian sanctions Friday, May 02, 2014 11:35 AM PDT By Peter Apps, Warren Strobel and Luke Baker LONDON/WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Western states used targeted sanctions to isolate Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and push Iran into nuclear negotiations. Using similar tactics against President Vladimir Putin's Russia is a challenge on an entirely different scale. Not only is the volume of Russian money in the international system much greater than anything tied to Gaddafi or Tehran but the sophistication with which it is moved, held and sometimes hidden is also much greater. There is also a question about political will in the European Union, which relies on Russia for a third of its energy needs, to go further. Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan's Kiir says ready to meet rebel leader for peace talks Friday, May 02, 2014 11:23 AM PDT  South Sudan's president Salva Kiir said on Friday he was ready to hold face-to-face talks with rebel leader Riek Machar to try to end more than four months of violence, in a statement released by the Kenyan presidency. Kiir traveled to Kenya to brief regional leaders shortly after meeting U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the South Sudanese capital Juba. "In the interest of peace in our country, I am willing and ready for face-to-face talks with Machar," Kiir was quoted as saying. The rebel leader did not make any commitments to go, but also did not rule it out, the official added. Full Story | Top |
| Turkish ruling party says to maintain three-term limit Friday, May 02, 2014 11:19 AM PDT  Turkey's ruling AK Party has decided to maintain a three-term limit for its deputies, the clearest signal yet that Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will run for the presidency in an August election, the party said on Friday. There has been speculation in Turkey that the AKP could change its rules to enable Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a decade, to stay on as prime minister for a fourth term. "It was decided appropriate to take no steps on the three-term rule," AKP spokesman Huseyin Celik said in a statement, following a five-hour meeting of the party's executive board to discuss the August presidential vote. Full Story | Top |
| Obama, Merkel vow wider Russia sanctions if Ukraine election impeded Friday, May 02, 2014 10:32 AM PDT  U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday the United States would move to "sectoral sanctions" on Russia if Moscow impeded plans for elections in Ukraine later this month. Obama was speaking to reporters at the White House after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also supported a move to wider sanctions and said the European Union and the United States would continue to work in concert on the issue. "The next step is going to be a broader-based sectoral sanctions regime," Obama said. Merkel agreed, saying that May 25 was a critical date and "we will see to it that elections can take place." The United States and the EU have imposed several rounds of sanctions on individuals and some companies to try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt any interference in Russian-speaking areas of eastern Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| Twenty-two Muslims killed in sectarian attacks in India's Assam Friday, May 02, 2014 10:17 AM PDT  By Biswajyoti Das GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) - Suspected tribal rebels have shot dead 22 Muslims in attacks in India's northeasterly tea-growing state of Assam, where tension has run high during a drawn-out national election, officials said on Friday. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Friday and soldiers deployed in the affected parts of Assam, a remote state with a history of ethnic violence and armed groups, some fighting for greater autonomy and others for secession from India. Bodo representatives argue that many of the Muslims are illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh encroaching on their ancestral lands, and election candidates including front-runner Narendra Modi have called for tighter migration controls. Full Story | Top |
| Three killed in clashes in Ukraine's Odessa: police Friday, May 02, 2014 10:13 AM PDT At least three people were killed and several wounded when pro-Russian activists attacked supporters of Ukrainian unity marching through Odessa, deepening rifts in the largely Russian-speaking port city. Dmytro Spivak, a local parliamentarian, told Ukrainian television that four young supporters of the authorities in Kiev had been killed. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela tackles shortages with controversial food card Friday, May 02, 2014 10:09 AM PDT  By Eyanir Chinea CARACAS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro is introducing a controversial shopping card intended to combat Venezuela's food shortages but decried by critics as a Cuban-style policy illustrating the failure of his socialist policies. Maduro, the 51-year-old successor to Hugo Chavez, trumpets the new "Secure Food Supply" card, which will set limits on purchases, as a way to stop unscrupulous shoppers stocking up on subsidized groceries and reselling them. Some Venezuelans sell generously-subsidized food from state outlets for handsome profits on the black market or over the border in Colombia. Hardline opposition sympathizers, though, decry the card as a copy of Cuba's ration books - a depressing sign of economic hardship and what they call "Castro-communist" influence in Venezuela. Full Story | Top |
| More than 2,000 trapped under Afghan landslide: local official Friday, May 02, 2014 09:43 AM PDT More than 2,000 people remain trapped under a landslide that smashed into a village in a remote mountainous area of northeastern Afghanistan on Friday, a spokesman for the local governor said. "There were more than 1,000 families living in that village," Naweed Forotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan governor, told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Germany's Merkel: we are ready for sectoral sanctions on Russia Friday, May 02, 2014 09:41 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday "we are ready and prepared" to impose sectoral sanctions on Russia. Merkel, appearing at the White House with President Barack Obama, said European Union heads of state and government are prepared to meet about Ukraine at any time if necessary. "There is a broad range of possibilities that are being prepared for in the European Union," she said. "We will move to a third stage of sanctions. I will underline this is not necessarily what we want." Full Story | Top |
| Nine soldiers killed as Islamist militants attack security HQ in Libya Friday, May 02, 2014 09:40 AM PDT By Ayman al-Warfalli and Feras Bosalum BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - Nine Libyan soldiers were killed on Friday when Islamist fighters tried to storm the Benghazi city security headquarters in an attack authorities blamed on the militant group Ansar al-Sharia. Libya's weak central government is struggling to control armed groups, militias and brigades of former rebels who helped oust long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 civil war and now refuse to disarm. The dead were soldiers of a special forces unit, the Tripoli government said, for the first time openly blaming Ansar al-Sharia, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States. "Armed brigades, including those called Ansar al-Sharia and other criminal groups, attacked the security headquarters in Benghazi with light and heavy weapons " a government statement said. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian rebel offensive encroaches on last chemical stockpile Friday, May 02, 2014 09:33 AM PDT  By Dominic Evans BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian rebel offensive aimed at easing a government siege east of Damascus has brought fighting closer to the last declared stockpile of President Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons, according to diplomats and activists. Syria has been removing 1,300 metric tons of chemical weapons under a deal reached last year which averted Western military strikes, after a sarin gas attack on rebel-held suburbs around the Syrian capital in August. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese oil engineers kidnapped in Sudan freed: Xinhua agency Friday, May 02, 2014 09:18 AM PDT Two Chinese engineers kidnapped in Sudan more than a year ago have been released, the official Xinhua media service said on Friday, citing a source at the Chinese embassy in Khartoum. The engineers had been held by the Darfur Justice and Equality Movement, an armed group opposed to the Sudanese central government. "The two Chinese engineers were released due to efforts made by the Sudanese government and the Chinese embassy in Khartoum," Xinhua quoted the unnamed source as saying. The Darfur group attacked the Kunar oil field, operated by the Sudanese Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company in the West Kordofan State, in April 2013, abducting three engineers, two of them Chinese and one Sudanese. Full Story | Top |
| Indian tribal militants kill 11 Muslims in fresh attack Friday, May 02, 2014 09:16 AM PDT Heavily armed tribal guerrillas raided a village in northeastern India on Friday and killed 11 Muslim settlers in a further attack linked to an upsurge in ethnic tensions during a drawn-out general election. India is holding the world's biggest election involving around 815 million people drawn from scores of ethnic, religious and social communities. Full Story | Top |
| Turkey dismisses corruption case that has dogged PM Erdogan Friday, May 02, 2014 09:13 AM PDT  By Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish prosecutors have dismissed a corruption case against 60 suspects, among them a former minister's son and a construction tycoon, burying part of a scandal that has dogged Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's inner circle for months, media said on Friday. The case, concerning the alleged award of illegal permits in building projects, was the smaller of two dossiers in the graft affair, which broke into the open on December 17 when businessmen close to Erdogan and three ministers' sons were detained. The scandal posed one of the biggest challenges of Erdogan's 11-year rule, leading three members of his cabinet to quit and drawing international criticism for his response - tightening control of the Internet, banning Twitter for two weeks and reassigning police, judges and prosecutors. Erdogan has cast the corruption investigations as part of an attempted "judicial coup" by U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally who wields influence in the police and judiciary. Full Story | Top |
| Political fever rises as Ukraine breaks apart Friday, May 02, 2014 09:12 AM PDT Financial journalist Yulia Sarotsyna spent a year living only off products made in Ukraine for a relentlessly upbeat blog to promote local brands. On the road for five months, she found toothbrushes from Kharkiv, sausage in the north, and even snails in the capital Kiev: "I discovered that Ukraine produces absolutely everything for a comfortable life," she wrote. But two weeks after she finished her project, an uprising forced Ukraine's pro-Russian president to flee the country. Tens of thousands of Russian troops are massed on the frontier, with President Vladimir Putin openly threatening to invade to protect Russian speakers. Full Story | Top |
| Ex-Chicago comptroller arrested in Pakistan, may be extradited to U.S. Friday, May 02, 2014 09:10 AM PDT LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A former aide to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel who fled to Pakistan while awaiting sentencing in the United States on corruption convictions has been arrested in Pakistan and authorities there are deciding whether to hand him over to the United States, Pakistani officials said on Friday. Amer Ahmad was detained on fraud allegations four days ago when he tried to enter Pakistan at the airport in Lahore carrying large amounts of cash, an airport official said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Russia denies saboteurs tried to cross Ukraine border: report Friday, May 02, 2014 09:04 AM PDT Russia's security service denied on Friday that saboteurs had tried to cross the border into Ukraine, Itar-Tass news agency reported. The Federal Security Service's (FSB) border service said information from the Ukrainian side about an alleged attempt by Russian "sabotage groups" to cross into Ukraine from Russia did not correspond with reality, the agency said. Ukraine's acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, said earlier that Ukrainian border troops had rebuffed attempts by Russian "armed saboteurs" to cross into Ukraine overnight. Full Story | Top |
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