Section: KXAN (USA)
Russian FM hopes Ukraine peace talks to focus on cease-fire
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says planned Ukraine peace talks are focusing on ensuring a stable cease-fire. Sergey Lavrov said Friday that a truce in eastern Ukraine should be monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He said the agenda for the peace talks tentatively set for Friday in the Belarusian...
World Economic Forum warns over international conflicts
LONDON (AP) — Following a year that’s seen the conflict in Ukraine and the rise of the Islamic State, geopolitical issues are considered to be the biggest threat to global stability over the coming decade, according to experts polled by the World Economic Forum. In its 2015 Global Risks Report, published Thursday, the WEF found “interstate...
Ukraine mourns 13 victims of bus blast in restive east
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is holding a day of mourning after 13 people were killed when a bus was hit by what the government says was a shell fired by Russian-backed separatists. President Petro Poroshenko said respects would be paid Thursday for all people killed by rebel military offensives in eastern Ukraine. Separatists deny responsibility...
US pushes Bulgaria on energy dependence, corruption
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is urging Bulgaria to wean itself from its near-total dependence on Russia for energy and calling for the NATO member to boost anti-corruption efforts. In meetings with Bulgaria’s president, prime minister and foreign minister on Thursday in Sofia, U.S. officials said Kerry was...
Merkel: Ukraine summit still possible, but unclear when
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she isn’t giving up hope of organizing a summit with the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, but she can’t say how long that might take after tentative plans for a meeting this week were scrapped. Foreign ministers from Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine failed on Monday to achieve enough...
Lack of aid deepens suffering in conflict-hit east Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Valentina Dudareva’s voice cracks with despair as she stands in the snow, surveying the bombed-out windows of her apartment block in Donetsk, the separatist capital in eastern Ukraine. Cold, poor and hungry, Dudareva is among the masses of people trapped by fighting between the government and Russian-backed militias,...
Russian minister promises to limit government spending
MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s finance minister has promised to maintain a tight lid on spending as the country faces its worst economic downturn in 15 years. Anton Siluanov said an earlier plan to boost government spending by nearly 12 percent this year is unrealistic, and some of the planned expenditures should be cut. He told an economic forum...
US, EU promise more aid for Ukraine if reforms continue
BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States on Tuesday reinforced Western assistance for war-torn Ukraine by promising up to $2 billion in loan guarantees if that effort is matched by economic and political reforms in Kiev. The U.S. State Department said it intends to provide $1 billion in loan guarantees in the first half of 2015 and an additional $1...
Ukraine: 10 civilians die in rebel shelling of checkpoint
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials say 10 civilians have been killed and a further 13 wounded in rebel shelling of a military checkpoint in eastern Ukraine. The Donetsk regional administration answering to the central government in Kiev said in a statement that the rebels shelled the checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk...
Kremlin: Poland failed to invite Putin to Auschwitz event
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin hasn’t been invited to a ceremony in Poland marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by the Soviet troops. The Interfax news agency quoted Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Tuesday that Putin hasn’t received an invitation and...
