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| Bus crash kills 23, injures 17 in southwest Haiti Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:30 PM PDT By Amelie Baron PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - A bus crash in southwest Haiti killed 23 people and injured 17 on Saturday, authorities said. The mayor of the city of Jeremie, Ronald Etienne, told Reuters that the cause of the accident was not known. The accident occurred near the coastal town of Roseau, east of Jeremie, according to media reports. Haiti's rural road infrastructure is in poor shape though foreign assistance after the 2010 earthquake has led to improvements on the national two-lane highway in the southwest. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese oil engineers kidnapped in Sudan freed: Xinhua agency Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:19 PM PDT Two Chinese engineers kidnapped in Sudan 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. Chinese media reported that the Darfur group had attacked the Kunar oil field, operated by the Sudanese Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company in the West Kordofan State, on April 18, abducting three engineers, two of them Chinese and one Sudanese. Full Story | Top |
| Ten bodies recovered from collapsed Colombia mine Saturday, May 03, 2014 07:44 PM PDT Rescue workers had pulled 10 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed illegal gold mine in Colombia by Saturday, the government said, three days after it caved in, and six are still believed to be buried under tons of mud and gravel. The mine in Santander de Quilichao in southwestern Cauca province collapsed just before midnight on Wednesday when workers were at the site. "The search continues with dogs and the rescue personnel to find the site where could be more victims," said Captain Victor Claros, commander of the Santander de Quilichao's fire and rescue brigade. A large proportion of Colombia's gold output comes from illegal mines, many under the control of leftist guerrillas who have been fighting the government for five decades. Full Story | Top |
| Napoli win fifth Italian Cup on violent Rome night Saturday, May 03, 2014 06:43 PM PDT By Terry Daley ROME (Reuters) - Napoli beat Fiorentina 3-1 to win their fifth Italian Cup on Saturday in a match that kicked off 45 minutes late after three fans were shot, one critically, in an incident near Rome's Olympic Stadium. A first half brace from Italy international Lorenzo Insigne and a late strike from Dries Mertens helped the southern side, who finished with 10 men, to their second Cup victory in three years. Insigne's goals in the 11th and 17th minutes put Fiorentina on the back foot but Juan Vargas brought his side back into the game just before the half hour with a fantastic volley. Mertens then added Napoli's third in injury time. Full Story | Top |
| Three people killed by blasts in Kenya's Mombasa Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:24 PM PDT  By Joseph Akwiri MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - At least three people were killed when attackers threw an explosive device at passengers at a bus station in Mombasa on Saturday, and a luxury hotel in the Kenyan coastal city was damaged in a separate blast, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Kenya has blamed similar attacks on the al Qaeda-linked Somali group al Shabaab, which killed at least 67 people at the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi last September. "What happened is a grenade was thrown at passengers," Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa told journalists. "The attackers were riding on a motor bike, and lobbed the grenade at the crowd of people at the bus terminus." More than 20 people were wounded. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan commander survives assassination attempt in Benghazi: official Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:03 PM PDT A Libyan security official on Saturday survived an assassination attempt by members of an Islamist militia in the volatile eastern city of Benghazi, a security spokesman said. Gunmen opened fire on the car of Abdullah al-Saiti, commander of the city's security operations center, while he was travelling in central Benghazi, said Ibrahim al-Shara, a security spokesman. The security operations center is the top command of government security forces and militias allied to the government in the eastern city. On Friday the government accused Islamist militants of the Ansar al-Sharia group of killing nine special forces soldiers during an attack on the city's security headquarters. Full Story | Top |
| Sinn Fein poised for Irish poll success amid Adams murder probe Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:01 PM PDT  Sinn Fein is in contention to win three of the Irish republic's 11 seats in the European Parliament, a poll showed on Saturday ahead of an election which the party says the arrest of leader Gerry Adams was timed to disrupt. Northern Ireland police extended the detention of Adams by another 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. Sinn Fein, which shares power in Northern Ireland and has gained popularity south of the border during the country's financial crisis, could win as many European Parliament seats as Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael party in the May 23 poll, according to a survey in the Sunday Business Post newspaper. Full Story | Top |
| Italian Cup final delayed after pre-match shootings Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:32 PM PDT  By Terry Daley ROME (Reuters) - The Italian Cup final was delayed after three Napoli fans were shot in clashes near Rome's Olympic stadium before Saturday's match between the southern club and Fiorentina, police said. One of the men was taken to the Villa San Pietro hospital in a critical condition after being hit in the chest while the two others were shot in the arms and also in hospital. The pistol used in the incidents has been found by the police, the AGI and ANSA news agency said. Maurizio Beretta, the Serie A president, said he had made a "heartfelt appeal for responsible behavior" from the supporters. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian soccer celebrations ended in Odessa deaths Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:21 PM PDT By Elizabeth Piper KIEV (Reuters) - Passions ran high in Odessa before local soccer team Chornomorets was due to play Kharkiv's Metalist. Fans who joined together to sing support for Ukraine's new leaders knew they might attract some trouble in the Russian-speaking city, but no one expected the chain of events that ended in the death of over 40 people. "Everything that happened was like in a horror movie," said Nadiya Yashan, a Chornomorets supporter who accused pro-Russian militants among the away fans of launching a ferocious attack. Over a few hours, running battles moved through the city, along the streets to a camp occupied by pro-Russian supporters, then to a Soviet-era trade union building where dozens of rebels disdainful of rule from Kiev later died in a blaze that engulfed the building. Full Story | Top |
| Dozens killed in Ukraine fighting and fire; OSCE monitors freed Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:26 PM PDT  By Miran Jelenek and Maria Tsvetkova ODESSA/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - At least 42 people were killed in a street battle between supporters and opponents of Russia in southern Ukraine that ended with dozens of pro-Russian protesters incinerated in a burning building, bringing the country closer to war. Pro-Russian rebels in the east freed seven European military observers on Saturday after holding them hostage for eight days, while Kiev pressed on with its biggest military operation so far to reclaim rebel-held territory in the area. The riot in the Black Sea port of Odessa, ending in a deadly blaze in a besieged trade union building, was by far the worst incident in Ukraine since a February uprising that ended with a pro-Russian president fleeing the country. A couple of hundred pro-Russian protesters in the eastern city of Donetsk stormed the governor's business premises and the state security headquarters, ransacking files and smashing windows. Full Story | Top |
| Mexico arrests former opposition party governor in embezzlement Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:03 PM PDT A former state governor from Mexico's conservative opposition party has been arrested for embezzlement, the state's attorney general's office and local media said on Saturday. Luis Armando Reynoso Femat, who was governor of the north-central Aguascalientes state from 2004 to 2010 for the National Action Party (PAN), was arrested for allegedly selling state land for around 26 million pesos ($2 million), local media reported. Reynoso Femat was arrested on Friday night, a state attorney general's official said, without explaining the charges. A lawyer for Reynoso Femat on Saturday told local media that he believed the arrest was politically motivated and there is no evidence against his client. Full Story | Top |
| French PM Valls says euro too strong Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:00 PM PDT  French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Saturday the euro was too strong and that President Francois Hollande would take initiatives to boost growth and employment after the May 22-25 European elections. "We need a more appropriate monetary policy, because the level of the euro is too high. We need a major change that makes our monetary policy a tool for growth and job creation, a tool that serves the people," Valls said at a meeting of young European socialists close Paris. Valls told French parliament on Tuesday his government wants talks to address what it considers the excessive strength of the euro once a new European Parliament is in place later this year and called for the EU to boost growth. Full Story | Top |
| Russia calls on U.S. to help stop Kiev's military drive Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:58 AM PDT Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has told his U.S. counterpart John Kerry that the U.S. should use its influence to make Ukraine's government immediately stop military operations in south-east Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said on Saturday. Lavrov, in a phone conversation with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also said he was concerned about reports that Ukraine's army was preparing to storm cities in south-east Ukraine including Slaviansk, according to a statement from the foreign ministry. Full Story | Top |
| Mortar fire kills at least 13 in government-held Syria Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:55 AM PDT By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - At least 13 people were killed by mortar fire in government-held areas of Syria on Saturday, including central Damascus, a monitoring group and state media said, just days after President Bashar al-Assad said he would seek another term in office. The attacks occurred as activists said rebel fighters had delayed their planned withdrawal from the Old City district of Homs, once called the "capital of the revolution", although a ceasefire with government forces continued there. Damascus residents say the overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim insurgents have stepped up mortar attacks into the government-held capital in recent weeks as government forces have tightened their grip over central parts of the country. Syria's state news agency SANA blamed "terrorists" for the mortar attack in Damascus, saying it killed four people including a 16-year-old girl when it struck a minibus in the al-Dwel'a area of the capital. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. warns of plan to attack hotel in Lagos Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:21 AM PDT  The United States has warned its citizens of a plan to attack one of two Sheraton hotels near Lagos, Nigeria's main commercial hub which attracts many foreign business people and which so far has been spared by the country's violent Islamist militants. In a statement on its website, the State Department said those behind the plot were "groups associated with terrorism", but gave no further details. Nigeria is grappling with an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands in the past five years. Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which is fighting to carve an Islamic state out of religiously mixed Nigeria, is still mostly confined to the northeast, although it has struck across the north and in Nigeria's capital, in the center. Full Story | Top |
| EU calls for independent probe of Odessa deaths Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:12 AM PDT The European Union called on Saturday for an independent investigation into the deaths of at least 42 people in southern Ukraine after a riot ended with dozens of pro-Russian protesters killed in a burning building. The street battle between supporters and opponents of Russia in the Black Sea port of Odessa that ended in the deadly blaze in a besieged trade union building was by far the worst incident in Ukraine since a February uprising that ended with a pro-Russian president fleeing the country. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the EU was "deeply saddened by the many deaths and injured in yesterday's events in Odessa". "The facts which led to this tragic loss of so many human lives must now be established in an independent investigation and those responsible for these criminal acts brought to justice," she said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Greek conservatives regain lead in polls ahead of EU election Saturday, May 03, 2014 11:02 AM PDT  Greece's co-ruling conservatives have regained a narrow lead over the main, anti-bailout opposition three weeks before a European Parliament election, two polls showed. The election, which coincides with a key local vote, is seen as a test for Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' fragile coalition in a country still reeling from the debt crisis and banking on loans from the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Samaras' New Democracy - which leads the coalition with the Socialist PASOK party - and its rival, the leftist Syriza party, have been running neck-and-neck in polls for months, with voters often swinging in favor of one or the other party. But New Democracy has seen a boost in ratings since Athens tapped bond markets in April for the first time in four years and Samaras promised to spend a 527 million euro ($731 million) windfall from Greece's 2013 budget surplus on poor, austerity-hit Greeks. Full Story | Top |
| Afghan landslide rescue focuses on displaced Saturday, May 03, 2014 09:54 AM PDT By Mirwais Harooni and Jeremy Laurence KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan officials gave up hope on Saturday of finding any survivors from a landslide in the remote northeast, with the number killed or missing put at between a few hundred and as many as 2,700. The United Nations said the focus now was on helping more than 4,000 displaced people. The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said more than 350 people were killed, but a spokesman for the local governor put the number in excess of 2,100. The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) said 2,700 were dead or missing. Full Story | Top |
| Syria cannot delay removing chemical weapons: U.S. Saturday, May 03, 2014 09:11 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday about the need to ensure that the last declared stockpile of Syria's chemical weapons is removed. "I pressed that we must see the last removal of the 8 percent remaining at a site near Damascus," Kerry told reporters, saying the telephone conversation took place during his flight to Democratic Republic of Congo. Syria has been removing 1,300 tonnes 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. "The regime must move immediately to prepare those remaining chemical weapons for removal and we need to meet that removal as fast as possible," he said. Full Story | Top |
| Russia says OSCE observers' release shows "bravery and humanism" of Slaviansk defenders Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:40 AM PDT The release of OSCE observers from European countries shows the "bravery and humanism" of the defenders of Slaviansk, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday. The ministry said that the step was taken "in conditions, when a peaceful town is coming under a direct, unmotivated attack..." "Without doubt this is evidence of the bravery and humanism of the defenders of the town. Full Story | Top |
| Russia's Lavrov and OSCE's Burkhalter agree on need to fulfill Geneva agreement on Ukraine Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:40 AM PDT Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the Swiss president Didier Burkhalter "confirmed the need for complete fulfillment of Geneva declaration" on Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Burkhalter is also presently the chairman of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The statement followed a phone conversation between Lavrov and Burkhalter on Saturday where they discussed the situation in Ukraine and especially "the rampage of radicals" in Odessa, the statement said. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry welcomes monitors' release in Ukraine, eyes larger OSCE role Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:40 AM PDT U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the release in Ukraine on Saturday of military monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) but said more steps were needed to de-escalate the crisis. Kerry said he spoke by phone with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and that both would discuss with Switzerland's president ways the OSCE might "play a larger role in perhaps facilitating the de-escalation". In the end, we reaffirmed our support for the OSCE," he told reporters, without elaborating, after landing in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a visit. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Ukraine says groups from Moldova's Transdniestria stir unrest in Odessa Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:40 AM PDT (Reuters) - Ukraine's SBU security service says illegal military groups from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region worked with Russian groups to stir up unrest in the Ukrainian Black Sea city of Odessa, where dozens died in clashes on Friday. It was not the first time largely Russian-speaking Transdniestria, a strip of Moldova bordering Ukraine and less than 100 km (62 miles) from Odessa, has been drawn into the crisis. NATO's top military commander said in late March that the separatist region, which declared its independence in 1990, could be next in Russia's sights after its annexation of Crimea earlier in the month. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month the people of Transdniestria, who have voted in a referendum in favor of joining Russia one day, should have the right to decide their own fate, though he stressed the need for negotiation. Full Story | Top |
| A split Ukraine would likely default on foreign debt: S&P Saturday, May 03, 2014 08:40 AM PDT By Dmitry Solovyov ASTANA (Reuters) - Ukraine will probably default on its international debts if it loses more territory, ratings agency Standard & Poors warned on Saturday, noting its existing CCC rating on the country already indicated a clear and present danger of default. "If Ukraine loses some of its territorial integrity, it will not likely be able to repay the loans," John Chambers, chairman of the Standard & Poor's Sovereign Ratings Committee, told Reuters in the Kazakh capital Astana. Russia has already annexed Ukraine's Crimea region and tensions are rising in other parts of the country. "Ukraine came into the crisis with a moderate government debt burden at the existing exchange rate. Full Story | Top |
| Tunisia elections probably to be held in November: election chief Saturday, May 03, 2014 06:58 AM PDT  By Tarek Amara TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's next presidential and parliamentary elections will probably be held in the second half of November, the election agency chief said on Saturday, about polls that will mark the country's final step towards full democracy. Tunisia's often turbulent political transition began after an 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali and inspired the "Arab Spring" revolutions across the region. Since then, Tunisia has been led by a caretaker government and has adopted a new constitution. Islamist party Ennahda rose to power in the first election after the uprising, held in October 2011, and Tunisia, one of the Arab world's most secular countries, has struggled with growing divisions over the role of Islam in politics. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine says Odessa unrest planned and financed from abroad Saturday, May 03, 2014 05:13 AM PDT Ukraine's security service said on Saturday illegal military groups from Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestria and Russian groups worked together to foment unrest in the southern port city of Odessa. "The unrest, which occurred on May 2 in Odessa and led to clashes and many casualties, was due to foreign interference," a spokeswoman for the SBU security service told a news conference. Kiev has long accused Russia of supporting uprisings in the south and east of Ukraine, and says pro-Russian forces in the Transdniestria region, just across the border, are helping their masters in Moscow to destabilize the situation. Russia denies playing any role in Ukraine's uprising, saying Russian-speaking citizens are simply protecting their rights from a pro-Western government. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese municipal legislator investigated for corruption Saturday, May 03, 2014 05:08 AM PDT A legislator in the central Chinese city of Chongqing is under investigation for graft, the ruling Communist Party's top anti-graft body said on Saturday, the latest official to fall in China's fight against corruption. President Xi Jinping has made tackling widespread corruption a central goal of his administration, saying that the problem could threaten Communist Party rule. Tan Xiwei, deputy director of Chongqing's People's Congress Standing Committee, is suspected of "serious violation of discipline and laws", which is Party parlance for engaging in corrupt activities. The party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection made the announcement on its website. Full Story | Top |
| At least six killed in blast in Somali capital: police Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:26 AM PDT  By Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar MOGADISHU (Reuters) - At least six people were killed in Mogadishu on Saturday, including a senior city council official, when a remotely controlled bomb planted by al Shabaab insurgents exploded on a busy street in the Somali capital, police said. Somalia's fragile government is struggling to impose any sense of order more than two decades after the fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre tipped the country into chaos. The city has been hit by a series of suicide bomb attacks in the past few months, claimed by al Qaeda-linked militants al Shabaab, who have waged a sustained guerrilla campaign even after they were pushed out of the city in mid-2011. Police said the bomb that killed the city official was hidden in a pile of rubbish placed along the road. Full Story | Top |
| Brazil presidential race tightens in new poll Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:09 AM PDT  The race for Brazil's October presidential election has tightened, according to a poll released on Saturday that also showed high disapproval for President Dilma Rousseff and widespread dissatisfaction with the stagnant economy. Rousseff had 35 percent of votes, compared to 24 percent for Senator Aecio Neves and 11 percent for former governor Eduardo Campos, according to the survey by Sensus polling firm. Brazil's stock market advanced 2.6 percent on Friday as investors anticipated the Sensus poll would show the race tightening. Full Story | Top |
| Slovenia's prime minister to step down on Monday Saturday, May 03, 2014 04:03 AM PDT  Slovenia's Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek said on Saturday that she would step down from her post on May 5 after losing a contest for her party leadership. Bratusek said earlier this week she wanted to see elections held before the summer, if possible, following her defeat by Ljubljana mayor Zoran Jankovic in a contest for the leadership of the Pozitivna Slovenija party last weekend. "I call upon all the deputies to give up their right to propose a new prime minister-designate, so that we hold elections as soon as possible," Bratusek said on Saturday after a meeting of the centre-left coalition partners comprising her cabinet. Full Story | Top |
| Yemeni colonel shot in Aden, bomb shakes Mukalla while army fights al Qaeda Saturday, May 03, 2014 03:39 AM PDT Unidentified gunmen shot dead an army colonel in his car in Yemen's southern port city of Aden late on Friday and two soldiers were injured when a car bomb exploded in another major southern port on Saturday, security sources said. The attacks follow dozens of others directed at security targets in the U.S. ally in recent months, killing hundreds, and come as the army is conducting a big operation against Islamist militants in the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan. Western countries fear further destabilization in Yemen could give more space to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the local branch of the global Islamist militant movement, to plot attacks on international targets. AQAP and its local ally, Ansar al-Sharia, have been waging an insurgency in southern Yemen for more than three years, battling both government forces and local tribal militias. Full Story | Top |
| Egypt court sentences 102 Islamists to 10 years in jail Saturday, May 03, 2014 03:14 AM PDT More than 100 supporters of Egypt's deposed Islamist President Mohamed Mursi were sentenced to ten years in jail on Saturday on charges of killing and inciting violence, judicial sources said. The verdicts for the 102 defendants, handed down ahead of a May 26-27 presidential election, relate to deaths that occurred during clashes in Cairo last July between supporters of Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood and security forces. Two other Brotherhood supporters who were defendants in the case received seven-year jail sentences, the sources said. Militant violence has spiraled since last July, when the army toppled Mursi and the authorities launched a crackdown on his supporters in the Brotherhood. Full Story | Top |
| Kremlin says Kiev, West responsible for Odessa bloodshed: agencies Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:45 AM PDT Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Saturday that both the Kiev authorities and their backers in the West were directly responsible for bloodshed in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, Russian new agencies reported. "Kiev and its Western sponsors are practically provoking the bloodshed and bear direct responsibility for it," RIA Novosti quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as telling reporters. In the east, Ukrainian forces launched an operation, condemned by Russia as "punitive", to dislodge separatists from the town of Slaviansk. Asked how Russia will respond, Peskov said that he was unable to say what actions Russia would take. Full Story | Top |
| OSCE confirms observers released in Slaviansk Saturday, May 03, 2014 02:17 AM PDT A group of military observers who were seized last week by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk has been released, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed on Saturday. "We can now confirm the release of the military observers," said a spokeswoman for the OSCE, under whose auspices the military verification officers led by German defense ministry staff were in Ukraine, at Ukraine's request. "Staff of the special monitoring mission are now waiting to receive them," she said, referring to a larger OSCE mission gathering information and trying to reduce tensions on the ground in Ukraine. Earlier, Slaviansk's pro-Russian separatist leader said he had released the observers, and said the move was voluntary and made to coincide with his birthday. Full Story | Top |
| Western observers released in Ukraine's Slaviansk Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:46 AM PDT European military observers held captive in Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine were released on Saturday, the town's pro-Russian separatist leader said, characterizing the move as voluntary and made to coincide with his birthday. As I said, they were my guests," Vyacheslav Ponomaryov said, adding that 12 people had been freed, including Europeans and Ukrainians. Eight observers who were in Ukraine under the auspices of security watchdog the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) were seized last week by separatists who said they had found a spy with them. Ponomaryov said Russian envoy Vladimir Lukin, who arrived in eastern Ukraine on Friday, had helped negotiate their release. Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda's leader says Iraqi branch in Syria must return to fight at home Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:41 AM PDT  Iraqi al Qaeda's entry into Syria's civil war caused "a political disaster" for Islamist militants there, the movement's global leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video message, urging the faction to redouble its efforts in Iraq instead. Zawahri has repeatedly tried to end infighting between the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and another al Qaeda-aligned group, the Nusra Front. He said on Friday in a message translated by SITE Monitoring that if ISIL had accepted his decision not to get involved in Syria and had instead worked to "busy itself with Iraq, which needs double its efforts" then it could have avoided the "waterfall of blood" caused by militant infighting. Full Story | Top |
| Western observers released in eastern Ukraine: pro-Russian leader Saturday, May 03, 2014 01:15 AM PDT SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatist leader, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, confirmed that Western observers had been released in the eastern town of Slaviansk on Saturday, and that there were no conditions for their release. "As I promised them, we celebrated my birthday yesterday and they left. As I said, they were my guests," he said, noting that 12 people had been released, including Europeans and Ukrainians. (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Louise Ireland) Full Story | Top |
| More than 2,100 confirmed dead in Afghanistan landslide: official Saturday, May 03, 2014 12:30 AM PDT More than 2,100 are confirmed to have been killed after a landslide crashed into a remote mountain village in northeast Afghanistan, a spokesman for the provincial governor said on Saturday. "More than 2,100 people from 300 families are all dead," Naweed Forotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan provincial governor, told Reuters. The United Nations said the focus was now on the more than 4,000 displaced by Friday's disaster. Full Story | Top |
| Police in Ukraine's Odessa detain 130 after fire, fighting kill dozens Friday, May 02, 2014 10:29 PM PDT More than 130 people have been detained in Ukraine's southern port city of Odessa after dozens were killed in a fire and street fighting involving pro-Russian and groups supporting the government in Kiev, police said on Saturday. In a statement, local police chief Petro Lutsiuk said those detained could face charges ranging from participating in riots to premeditated murder for Friday's street battles, which resulted in the city's trade union building being set on fire. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine says operations against rebels continue; 'we are not stopping' Friday, May 02, 2014 09:49 PM PDT Ukraine said military operations against pro-Russian separatists in the industrial east of the country continued at dawn on Saturday near the town of Kramatorsk, vowing it would not stop a bid to dislodge them. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Ukrainian forces had seized control of a television tower in Kramatorsk, near the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk, but gave no information on possible casualties. Slaviansk was the target on Friday of the most significant advance by Ukrainian forces since the start of an armed uprising in the east a month ago, stalled by well-armed separatists who brought down two military helicopters and dug in the town of 130,000. "We are not stopping." Overnight, Russian media reported fighting near Kramatorsk, citing hospital sources as saying one person had been killed and nine wounded. Full Story | Top |
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