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| U.S. 'deeply disturbed' by Chinese dissident's death Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 09:09 PM PDT The United States is "deeply disturbed" by reports of the death of prominent Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli, detained in September for staging sit-ins at the country's foreign ministry, the State Department said on Saturday. The news of her death came on Friday, soon after the start of a session in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body to which China was elected amid controversy last November. "The United States is deeply disturbed by reports that rights activist Cao Shunli has passed away at a hospital in Beijing. Cao staged a two-month sit-in along with other activists outside the Foreign Ministry, beginning in June, to press for the public to contribute to a national human rights report. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysian PM says lost airliner was diverted deliberately Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 09:02 PM PDT  By Anshuman Daga and Siva Govindasamy KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A missing Malaysian airliner appears to have been deliberately steered off course after someone on board shut down its communications, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday. But the new satellite data gave no precise location, and the plane's altered course could have taken it anywhere from central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean, he said. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8 with 239 passengers and crew aboard. "Despite media reports the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate." Search operations by navies and aircraft from more than a dozen nations were immediately called off in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia, where the plane dropped off civilian air traffic control screens at 1:22 a.m. last Saturday (1722 GMT on Friday). Full Story | Top |
| Indian Ocean poses daunting challenge in search for missing Malaysia plane Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:12 PM PDT  By Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) - The southern Indian Ocean, where investigators suspect missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have come down, is one place where a commercial airliner can crash without a ship spotting it, a radar plotting it or even a satellite picking it up. Even Australia, which has island territories in the Indian Ocean and sends rescue planes to pluck stricken yachtsmen from the cold, mountainous seas in the south from time to time, has no radar coverage much beyond its Indian Ocean coast. "In most of Western Australia and almost all of the Indian Ocean, there is almost no radar coverage," an Australian civil aviation authority source said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to speak on the record. "If anything is more than 100 kilometers offshore, you don't see it." The Indian Ocean, the world's third largest, has an average depth of more than 12,000 feet, or two miles. Full Story | Top |
| India puts on hold search for missing plane: officials Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:07 PM PDT India on Sunday put on hold its search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at the request of the government in Kuala Lumpur, which wants to reassess the week-old hunt for the Boeing 777 that is suspected of being deliberately flown off course. India had been combing two areas, one around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and a second, further west, in the Bay of Bengal. "It's more of a pause," said Commander Babu, a spokesman for the country's Eastern Naval Command. They will figure whether they need to shift the area of search." The fate of the flight, with 239 passengers and crew aboard, has been shrouded in mystery since it vanished off Malaysia's east coast less than an hour into a March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Full Story | Top |
| Police search co-pilot's home in missing Malaysia plane probe Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 07:42 PM PDT Police investigating the disappearance of a Malaysian passenger jet more than a week ago have searched the home of the co-pilot, a senior official said, after the prime minister said the aircraft had been deliberately flown way off course. Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday that the investigation would refocus on the crew and passengers of Flight MH370, after confirming that someone aboard appeared to have shut off the plane's communication systems before turning it away from its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A senior police official with knowledge of the investigation said special branch officers had searched the home of 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid on Saturday evening. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER vanished in the early hours of March 8 with 239 passengers and crew aboard. Full Story | Top |
| NATO websites hit in cyber attack over Crimea stance Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 07:41 PM PDT By Adrian Croft and Peter Apps BRUSSELS/LONDON, March 15 - Unidentified hackers brought down several public NATO websites with cyber attacks on Saturday, the alliance said, in what appeared the latest escalation in cyberspace over growing tensions over Crimea. A group calling itself "cyber berkut" said the attack had been carried out by patriotic Ukrainians angry over what they saw as NATO interference in their country. Cyber berkut is a reference to the feared and since disbanded riot squads used by the government of ousted pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. As well as the main NATO website www.NATO.int, the website of a NATO-affiliated cyber security center in Estonia was also affected. Full Story | Top |
| Crimea to vote on joining Russia, Moscow wields U.N. veto Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 07:40 PM PDT  By Richard Balmforth and Mike Collett-White KIEV/SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Pro-Russian leaders in Crimea made final preparations on Saturday for a referendum widely expected to transfer control of the Black Sea region from Ukraine to Moscow, despite an outcry and threat of sanctions from the West. Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that declared the referendum invalid, as Ukraine's defense ministry scrambled aircraft and paratroopers to confront what it said was a Russian encroachment just beyond Crimea's formal regional boundary. Ukraine's new rulers accused "Kremlin agents" of fomenting violence in the Russian-speaking east of the country. They urged people not to respond to provocations that Kiev fears Moscow may use to justify further incursions after its takeover of Crimea. Full Story | Top |
| Russia vetoes U.N. resolution against Crimea referendum Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 07:18 PM PDT By Mirjam Donath UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Russia on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council draft resolution that declared a planned referendum on the status of Ukraine's Crimea region "can have no validity" and urged nations and international organizations not to recognize it. The Russian veto of the draft resolution, drawn up by the United States, was expected. Moscow, which has sent military forces to Crimea, is backing Sunday's referendum, which would transfer control of the region from Ukraine to Russia. "This is a sad and remarkable moment," Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said after the vote by the 15-member Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes northwestern Peru Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 06:50 PM PDT By Teresa Cespedes LIMA (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck northwestern Peru near its border with Ecuador on Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Peru's National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) said it had not received reports of serious damage or injuries, and authorities did not issue a tsunami alert. The quake struck at 6:51 p.m. local time (2351 GMT). Its epicenter was 28 miles south-southwest of Piura and it occurred at a depth of 6.1 miles, the USGS said. Brazilian construction company Odebrecht SA said its $700 million irrigation project in the area was unaffected. ... Full Story | Top |
| Slovak PM Fico, political novice advance to run-off presidential vote Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 05:52 PM PDT  By Jason Hovet PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and political newcomer Andrej Kiska won the most votes in the first round of a presidential election on Saturday, setting up a run-off that will either cement the ruling party's power or usher in an independent. A Fico victory in a second-round vote on March 29 would give his centre-left Smer party full control of all the main power centers, even if the Slovak constitution does not grant the president himself a huge political role. Fico, who has led the central European country since sweeping a parliamentary election in 2012, won 28 percent of the vote to Kiska's 24 percent on Saturday, a smaller margin than opinion polls had indicated. Full Story | Top |
| Factbox: Indonesia's election year Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 05:04 PM PDT Indonesia holds parliamentary and presidential elections this year in what could bring major change to the way the world's third largest democracy is run. Current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is in the last year of his second term and is barred by the constitution from running again. DATES March 16 - Campaigning for the parliamentary election starts April 9 - Parliamentary election April 26 - Vote counting starts, until May 6 May 7 - Official result due to be declared July 9 - Presidential election July 26 - Winner due to be announced, if no runoff September 9 - Presidential election runoff if no clear winner in the first round September 26 - Winner due to be announced October 20 - New president inaugurated REQUIREMENTS A party, or coalition of parties, must win at least 25 percent of the national vote or 20 percent of parliamentary seats to nominate a presidential candidate. Full Story | Top |
| Indonesia starts election campaign, voters set to choose radical change Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 05:02 PM PDT  By Jonathan Thatcher JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's raucous election season kicks off on Sunday with the promise of a fresh style of leadership in the world's third largest democracy, whose economic promise has been sapped by rampant graft, confusing policy and weak rule. An uncertain election outlook abruptly changed on Friday when the main PDI-P opposition party named the hugely popular governor of Jakarta as its candidate for July's presidential election. That lifted even further its chances of dominating the parliamentary election on April 9. Opinion polls suggest the presidency is governor Joko Widodo's to lose, with old-style contenders ex-general Prabowo Subianto and tycoon Aburizal Bakrie trailing far behind. Full Story | Top |
| Obama national security aides meet to discuss Ukraine Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 04:27 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's national security team discussed the Ukraine crisis in a session at the White House on Saturday after a last-ditch bid to find a diplomatic solution to the Cold War-style standoff with Russia floundered. Secretary of State John Kerry, who just returned from talks with his Russian counterpart in London, was at the White House meeting along with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Obama did not attend the meeting but was being briefed about it and other developments involving Ukraine, said Laura Lucas Magnuson, a spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council. Full Story | Top |
| Crimeans set to vote in referendum to leave Ukraine for Russia Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 04:08 PM PDT  By Mike Collett-White and Aleksandar Vasovic SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Crimeans decide on Sunday whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia in a referendum that has infuriated Kiev and triggered the biggest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War. Thousands of Russian troops have taken control of the Black Sea peninsula, and Crimea's pro-Russian leaders have worked hard to ensure that the vote is tilted in Moscow's favor. That, along with an ethnic Russian majority, is expected to result in a comfortable "yes" vote to leave Ukraine, a move that could prompt U.S. and European sanctions as early as Monday against those seen as responsible for the takeover of Crimea. The majority of Crimea's 1.5 million electorate support leaving Ukraine and becoming a part of Russia, citing expectations of better pay and becoming part of a country capable of asserting itself on the world stage. Full Story | Top |
| Serbia's centre-right to tighten grip on power, promising reform Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 04:05 PM PDT  By Matt Robinson BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's center-right Progressive Party, led by former ultra-nationalist Aleksandar Vucic, bids in an election on Sunday to cement its grip on power for the next four years as the ex-Yugoslav republic embarks on talks to join the European Union. The Progressive Party (SNS) forced the snap election after just 18 months in coalition government, saying it needed a stronger mandate to pursue a much-needed overhaul of the Serbian economy. Opinion polls suggest it may win more than 40 percent of the vote, a haul unprecedented in the almost 14 years since Serbia came in from the cold with the ouster of strongman Slobodan Milosevic. Critics, however, are unnerved at the power amassed by a man who up until five years ago was a virulent anti-Western disciple of the Greater Serbia ideology that fuelled the wars of Yugoslavia's bloody demise in the 1990s. Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro gives ultimatum to Caracas protesters Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 03:11 PM PDT  By Deisy Buitrago and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro warned protesters in Caracas on Saturday to clear a square they have made their stronghold, or face eviction by security forces. Plaza Altamira, in upscale east Caracas, has been a focus of anti-government protests and violence during six weeks of unrest around Venezuela that has killed 28 people. "If they don't retreat, I'm going to liberate those spaces with the security forces," Maduro added. "They have a few hours to go home ... Chuckys, get ready, we're coming for you." Students and other protesters have been using the square, in the pro-opposition Chacao district of Caracas, as a rallying point since a wave of protests started to gather steam in mid-February. Full Story | Top |
| France to review military cooperation with Russia in future sanctions Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 02:58 PM PDT By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday Paris would review its military cooperation with Russia as part of a third level of sanctions if Moscow did not de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine. On Monday the United States and European Union are expected to unveil a list of Russian officials subject to asset freezes and visa bans as Western nations attempt to step up pressure on Moscow over its intervention in the Ukrainian region of Crimea. When asked whether France would suspend a 1.2 billion euro helicopter carrier contract with Russia, Hollande told a news conference: "As far as other sanctions, notably military cooperation, that is the third level of sanctions." Until now French officials have shied away from discussing whether the 2011 contract for two Mistral helicopter carriers with an option for two with Russia could be suspended, a potentially awkward sacrifice to show French resolve. Full Story | Top |
| Sudanese police again fire tear gas at protesters Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 01:42 PM PDT Sudanese police fired tear gas on Saturday at a group of 200 anti-government protesters chanting 'Freedom' in the north of the capital Khartoum, an eyewitness said. On Tuesday, one man died when police used tear gas and batons on students protesting against escalating violence in the western region of Darfur. Khartoum University has suspended classes indefinitely because of the violence. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has stayed in power for over two decades despite rebellions, U.S. trade sanctions, an economic crisis, an attempted coup and an indictment from the International Criminal Court on charges of masterminding war crimes in Darfur. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysian plane saga highlights air defense gaps Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 01:20 PM PDT By Peter Apps and Frank Jack Daniel LONDON/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Whatever truly happened to missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, its apparently unchallenged wanderings through Asian skies point to major gaps in regional - and perhaps wider - air defenses. On Saturday, Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities now believed the Boeing 777 flew for nearly seven hours after disappearing early on March 8. Either its crew or someone else on the plane disabled the on-board transponder civilian air traffic radar used to track it, investigators believe. It appears to have first flown back across the South China Sea - an area of considerable geopolitical tension and military activity - before overflying northern Malaysia and then heading out towards India without any alarm being raised. Full Story | Top |
| Haider's daughter to lead Austrian far-right party in EU vote Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 12:52 PM PDT Austria's right-wing BZO party on Saturday named a daughter of Joerg Haider as its lead candidate in European Parliament elections in May, hoping to recapture the charisma and political acumen of its late leader. Ulrike Haider-Querica, 37, a university professor in Rome, told a convention of the Alliance for the Future of Austria that she was ready to lead a new generation out to change what she called the European Union's "failed policies". She said EU founders' vision of a Europe as a peace project and common market had been corrupted, as shown primarily by bailouts of struggling euro zone countries that had threatened Europe's unity. We run the danger of losing an entire generation," she told the convention, according to remarks published on the BZO website that said the EU had become "a marketplace for banks and corporations". Full Story | Top |
| Armed police burst into Crimean hotel on eve of referendum Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 12:47 PM PDT Armed police burst into a hotel in Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, on Saturday night on the eve of a referendum aimed at deciding whether the Ukrainian region leaves Ukraine and becomes part of Russia. Witnesses saw around 30 men in balaclavas carrying automatic weapons inside the Hotel Moscow, a Soviet-era hotel popular with Western reporters covering Sunday's referendum. Crimean Defence Minister Valery Kuznetsov told reporters that police were reacting to an alert which turned out to be false. The incident occurred at a time when Russian state media has ratcheted up its anti-Western rhetoric, accusing the West of supporting what it says are fascist elements within Ukraine's provisional government. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian troops confront Russian forces on strip alongside Crimea Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 12:11 PM PDT KIEV/SIMFEROPOL (Reuters) - Ukraine's military scrambled aircraft and paratroops to confront Russian troops landing on a remote spit of land between Crimea and the mainland, defense officials said and the foreign ministry demanded their immediate withdrawal. The border guard service said Ukrainian forces had taken up defensive positions on Arbatskaya Strelka, running parallel to the east of Crimea, now controlled by Russian forces. It said about 60 Russian troops had landed on the strip and begun digging in, assisted by three armored personnel carriers. Full Story | Top |
| Rebels say deployment of regional troops to South Sudan 'ill advised' Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 12:09 PM PDT  By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - South Sudan's rebels on Saturday criticized plans by east Africa's regional bloc to deploy troops to South Sudan, questioning its neutrality. Leaders from the IGAD bloc agreed on Thursday to deploy troops to enforce a much-violated ceasefire between government and rebels, though no details were provided about the size of the contingent. The force was also given the job of protecting South Sudan's oilfields, on which the government depends for almost all its revenue. Rebels attending faltering peace talks in Ethiopia criticized IGAD for failing to secure the withdrawal of the Ugandan troops who are supporting President Salva Kiir's government. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. destroyer to conduct more drills in Black Sea amid Crimea crisis Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 11:40 AM PDT The USS Truxtun, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer, will carry out more exercises with allied ships in the Black Sea, its commander said on Saturday, the latest Western response to Russia's actions in Ukraine. Commander Andrew Biehn was briefing reporters aboard the 300-crew destroyer as it lay docked in the Bulgarian port of Varna. The USS Truxtun last week took part in drills with Romanian and Bulgarian ships a few hundred miles from the Russian forces that entered Ukraine's Russian-majority territory of Crimea after mass protests toppled Ukraine's pro-Moscow president. Full Story | Top |
| Supporters of Algeria's Bouteflika rally for his re-election Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 11:21 AM PDT  By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - Several thousand supporters of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika rallied on Saturday to support his re-election bid in a show of strength by those who portray him as key to stability in the North African country. Bouteflika, 77, has registered his candidacy for the April 17 election in which he is almost certain to win another five-year term despite questions over his health and ability to govern since he suffered a stroke last year. Algeria's election comes at a delicate period in the region where neighboring Libya, Egypt and Tunisia are still overcoming the instability that followed the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprisings that ousted their long-term rulers. At a rally at La Coupole stadium in Algiers, popular music blasted out while students wearing Bouteflika T-shirts danced, gave speeches and broadcast a documentary of the president's life just days before the official start of campaigning. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine crisis triggers Russia's biggest anti-Putin protest in two years Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 10:53 AM PDT By Maria Tsvetkova and Jason Bush MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia saw the largest opposition protest in almost two years in Moscow on Saturday, as Muscovites took to the streets in their thousands to demonstrate both for and against President Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine. Crimeans vote on Sunday on whether to reunite with Russia after pro-Russian forces took control of the peninsula, triggering the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War. Most Russians strongly back Putin's actions and see Crimea as rightfully part of Russia. But a minority are horrified, fearing that Putin is risking war with another Slavic country formerly seen as a brother nation. Full Story | Top |
| Death toll in Syria-fuelled fighting in Lebanon's Tripoli reaches 10 Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 10:34 AM PDT By Nazih Siddiq TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The death toll from three days of fighting between members of two Muslim sects in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 10 on Saturday, security and medical sources said, in violence stoked by the civil war in neighboring Syria. One person was killed by a sniper and four more died on Saturday from injuries sustained earlier in the week during clashes between Sunni Muslims and members of the Shi'ite-derived Alawite sect in Lebanon's second city. Full Story | Top |
| Libyan port rebels say ready for talks, demand Tripoli suspend offensive Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 10:11 AM PDT  Libyan rebels controlling three oil export ports said on Saturday they were ready to negotiate with the government over ending their six-month blockade if Tripoli abandoned plans for a military offensive. Libyan officials on Wednesday gave the armed protesters two weeks to clear the ports they have seized, or face a military strike. Pro-government and rebel forces clashed briefly this week in central Sirte city linking western and eastern Libya. The rebels, who are calling for a greater share in the OPEC nation's oil wealth, managed last week to load oil on to a tanker, which escaped the Libyan navy. Full Story | Top |
| Russian President Putin's spokesman sees no 'Cold War' because of Ukraine Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 10:07 AM PDT Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, said on Saturday that he was sure there would be no "Cold War" in connection with Ukraine. "With all our soul, we hope that both ourselves and our partners have enough political wisdom, feelings of political realism, to avoid sliding into an even deeper confrontation - ideological or otherwise - because of Ukraine," Peskov said in an interview with the television channel Ren-TV. Peskov said that Russia and the West were economically co-dependent, criticizing suggestions by economists that Russia was capable of self-isolation. "We are interested in the development of cooperation, and we wouldn't like what is happening in Ukraine to have the opposite effect," Peskov said. Full Story | Top |
| France says it won't forget Syria crisis, promises more pressure Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 10:04 AM PDT By John Irish PARIS (Reuters) - France will not "close its eyes" to the Syrian conflict despite other crises taking center stage, French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday, promising to increase efforts to reach a political solution. The conflict began with mass street protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 but turned into an armed insurgency after he cracked down violently on demonstrators. "This is a tragedy that has lasted three years ... there are massacres taking place every day, a (peace) conference was held in Geneva that didn't succeed, but we must continue to apply crucial pressure so that a political solution can be found," Hollande said alongside Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. France, one of Assad's fiercest critics, was the first Western power to provide non-lethal military aid to rebels. Full Story | Top |
| 'Plump granny' mammal thwarts Florida business plans Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 09:21 AM PDT  But as business owners chart their course to prosperity, they have bumped up against a formidable adversary: Florida's much-loved "sea cow," the manatee. When a county commissioner recently suggested relaxing guidelines intended to protect the blubbery creatures on the Miami River and other waterways, it set off the latest iteration of a perennial battle. Floridians are generally supportive of development, but they also adore their manatees, a gray, bulbous endangered aquatic species that weighs 800 to 1,200 pounds (363 to 544 kilograms). Native to Florida's rivers, bays and coastal waters, manatees have for decades been listed as an endangered species. Full Story | Top |
| Gaza power plant shuts down due to fuel shortage Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 09:03 AM PDT The Gaza Strip's sole power station stopped generating electricity on Saturday, causing blackouts throughout the territory after it ran out of fuel, officials said. The power plant is one of the main sources of electricity for Gaza's 1.8 million people and without it, daily blackouts of around 12 hours are expected. Electricity is also received directly from Israel and Egypt. Gaza lacks much basic civil infrastructure and lives under an Egyptian-Israeli blockade meant to cut off arms flows but which also curbs imports of fuel and building supplies. Full Story | Top |
| As hope withers, Palestinian president heads to Washington Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 09:02 AM PDT  By Crispian Balmer JERUSALEM (Reuters) - With pessimism growing by the day over the future of Middle East peace talks, U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington on Monday to try to break the stalemate. The deadline for the negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, aimed at ending their entrenched conflict, expires next month and Washington is eager to persuade the two sides to prolong their discussions within a new framework. After eight months of initial talks, and at least 10 trips to the region, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry sounded unusually gloomy during a Congressional hearing on March 12, indicating that little progress had been made so far. Obama's direct involvement is aimed at providing much needed additional impetus: he saw Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month, and is now meeting Abbas. Full Story | Top |
| Syrian forces enter last rebel bastion near Lebanese border Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:57 AM PDT  By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Syrian army entered eastern districts of the town of Yabroud, the last rebel bastion near the Lebanese border north of Damascus, on Saturday and tightened its grip on the remaining rebels there from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Soldiers advanced inside Yabroud and "eliminated terrorist strongholds", said a reporter on Syrian state television SANA who was broadcasting live from the town's outskirts. He said the army had taken control of hills and mountaintops southeast of Yabroud, gaining a strategically advantageous position. A military source confirmed to Reuters that the army had taken a series of peaks and said it had "fastened pincers around Yabroud." Capturing the town would help President Bashar al-Assad cut off a cross-border rebel supply line from Lebanon. Full Story | Top |
| Muscovites march for and against Putin's Crimean policies Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:34 AM PDT By Maria Tsvetkova and Jason Bush MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russians took to the streets of Moscow in their thousands on Saturday to demonstrate for and against President Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine. Crimeans vote on Sunday on whether to reunite with Russia after pro-Russian forces took control of the peninsula, triggering the worst East-West confrontation since the Cold War. Most Russians strongly back Putin's actions and see Crimea as rightfully part of Russia. But a minority are horrified, fearing that Putin is risking war with another Slavic country formerly seen as a brother nation. Full Story | Top |
| Tatar leader mistrusts Russia, fears new troubles in Crimea Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:08 AM PDT By Ronald Popeski KIEV (Reuters) - Crimean Tatars, deported en masse by Soviet authorities 70 years ago, fear new repression if Russia's military takeover of the Crimean peninsula leads to formal political control, the Muslim community's most senior figure said on Saturday. Mustafa Dzhemilev, in an interview, denounced Sunday's referendum in the peninsula on whether to join Russia as a "desecration of elementary logic and democratic principles". Dzhemilev, 70, said Crimean Tatars, the peninsula's indigenous residents who have firmly backed the post-Soviet Ukrainian state, mistrusted promises of benefits made by Crimea's new pro-Moscow leaders. "We Crimean Tatars believe that we are the ones who will suffer most," Dzhemilev, former head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, its top body of representatives, told Reuters in a Kiev hotel next to parliament. Full Story | Top |
| Three killed in South African plane crash Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 08:07 AM PDT Three people were killed when the small plane they were travelling in crashed near a landing strip in the South African province of KwaZulu Natal on Saturday, police and emergency services said. "The plane is apparently burnt beyond recognition," Santi Steinmann, media liaison officer for private ambulance service Netcare 911, told Reuters. Regional police spokesman Jay Naicker confirmed three bodies had been pulled out of the wreck of the light aircraft. Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian military repels attempted Russian incursion: Ministry Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 07:44 AM PDT Ukraine's military scrambled aircraft and paratroops on Saturday to repel an attempt by Russian forces to enter a long spit of land belonging to a region adjacent to Crimea, Ukraine's defense ministry said. "Units of Ukraine's armed forces today...repelled an attempt by servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation to enter the territory of Kherson region on Arbatskaya Strelka," a ministry statement said. The territory in question is a long spit of land running parallel to the east of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, now controlled by Russian forces. Full Story | Top |
| Swiss prosecutor told by police of suspected Yanukovich money-laundering Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 06:33 AM PDT Switzerland's prosecutor has been alerted by police of suspected money-laundering and bribery in connection with ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich but has not launched a formal investigation, the authority's spokeswoman said on Saturday. The prosecutor said it was notified of the allegations against Yanukovich and members of his entourage by an arm of the Swiss federal police tasked with liaising with Swiss banks in cases of suspected money-laundering. Ukraine's pro-Moscow Yanukovich was toppled on February 22 amid street protests in Kiev over his decision to ditch a trade deal with Europe in favor of economic ties with former Soviet overlord Russia. Following his fall he fled to Russia where he has made several media appearances, most recently last week. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine says Kremlin stirs up east, prepares invasion Saturday, Mar 15, 2014 06:30 AM PDT By Alastair Macdonald and Lina Kushch KIEV/DONETSK (Reuters) - Ukraine accused "Kremlin agents" on Saturday of fomenting deadly violence in Russian-speaking cities and urged people not to rise to provocations its new leaders fear Moscow may use to justify a further invasion after its takeover of Crimea. From his speaker's chair in parliament, acting president Oleksander Turchinov referred to three deaths in two days in Donetsk and Kharkiv and said there was "a real danger" of invasion by Russian troops across Ukraine's eastern border. Addressing members of the party of the pro-Moscow president who was ousted in last month's Kiev uprising, Turchinov said: "You know as well as we do who is organizing mass protests in eastern Ukraine - it is Kremlin agents who are organizing and funding them, who are causing people to be murdered." Two men, described by police as pro-Russian demonstrators, were shot dead in a fight in Kharkiv late on Friday. Full Story | Top |
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