Section: Saudi Arabia
MH17 downing may be war crime: UN
KIEV — The downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 "may amount to a war crime", the UN said Monday, adding that fighting in east Ukraine has claimed over 1,100 lives with both government and rebel forces using heavy weaponry in built-up areas. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the "horrendous...
Chechnya leader seeks travel ban on Obama, others
MOSCOW — Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, said on Saturday he would ban entry to and freeze any bank accounts of US President Barack Obama and top EU officials for bringing “tragedy” to Ukraine, in a gesture of defiance after being hit by sanctions. After the European Union imposed sanctions over Ukraine th...
Police visit to MH17 disaster site canceled
DONETSK, Ukraine — A team of international police officers that had been due to visit the site of the Malaysian plane disaster in eastern Ukraine canceled the trip Sunday after receiving reports of fighting in the area. Alexander Hug, the deputy head of a monitoring team from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said it...
Ukraine launches offensive to retake Donetsk
DONETSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials said their forces advanced to the outskirts of a key town north of Donetsk on Saturday as they try to retake the stronghold held for months by pro-Russia rebels. The move comes as Ukrainian forces appear to have gained some momentum recently by retaking control of territory from the rebels. But Russia...
Russia prepares for Navy Day celebrations
Sailors of the Russian Black Sea Fleet march as they prepare for Navy Day celebrations in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, Friday. Russia announced this week that it had begun expanding and modernizing its Black Sea fleet based in Crimea with new ships and submarines, just months after annexing the peninsula from Ukraine. Russia’s Black Sea...
EU targets Russian intelligence chiefs
BRUSSELS — Stung into action by the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, the EU put Russia’s intelligence chiefs on its sanctions list Saturday as it readied much harsher measures against Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. The director of the FSB security service, Alexander Bortnikov, and the head of the Russian Foreign Intell...
‘Mass grave’ uncovered in Ukraine
SLAVYANSK, Ukraine — Local authorities say they have uncovered the first mass grave in the former separatist bastion of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, containing the bodies of at least four civilians they say were executed by pro-Russian rebels. “We know there are others in the town but we don’t know where. This is the first one...
Planes with MH17 bodies leave Ukraine
KHARKIV, Ukraine — Two military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster departed for the Netherlands Thursday, while Australian and Dutch diplomats joined to promote a plan for a UN team to secure the crash scene which has been controlled by pro-Russian rebels. All 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17...
Black boxes delivered to UK investigators
LONDON — The black boxes from the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that crashed in eastern Ukraine have arrived in Britain for expert analysis, the government said on Wednesday. The recorders have been delivered to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch headquarters in Farnborough, southwest of London. ...
Dutch anger swells at treatment of Ukraine bodies
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — It is no longer only grief and mourning sweeping across the Netherlands in the aftermath of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. It is now anger. The Dutch have widely condemned the way the bodies of loved ones have been treated in Ukraine and the fact they have not yet been returned home, fou …read...
