Section: KXAN (USA)
Japan and Russia hold talks on security, territorial dispute
TOKYO (AP) — The foreign and defense ministers from Japan and Russia are meeting in Tokyo for the first such “two-plus-two” talks since Russia’s annexation of Ukraine. Monday’s one-day meeting comes as the sides work to end a decades-long territorial dispute that is blocking them from forging a peace treaty. At the same time, Japan,...
Gatherings mark anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea
MOSCOW (AP) — Residents of cities in Crimea and Russia are gathering to commemorate the third anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine. The annexation was widely denounced by the West, and both the United States and the European Union imposed sanction on Russia in response. The annexation agreement on March...
Kremlin says Ukraine cuts off rebel east with its own hands
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin says that Ukraine is ruining its own territorial integrity with a blockade of rebel regions in the east. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that Moscow is watching with concern Ukraine “resolutely and consistently repudiating its own regions, condemning millions to living without...
China plans station on disputed South China Sea shoal
BEIJING (AP) — China plans to build an environmental monitoring station on a South China Sea shoal at the heart of a territorial dispute with the Philippines, potentially raising new concerns over Beijing’s actions to assert its claims in the strategically crucial waterbody. The top official in Sansha City that administers China’s...
AP protests ruling against reporter over Chernobyl story
MOSCOW (AP) — The Supreme Court of Belarus on Thursday upheld a lower court decision ordering The Associated Press’ Minsk correspondent to write a letter to AP management denying facts in a story last year. AP is protesting the ruling against reporter Yuras Karmanau, saying it stands behind the accuracy of his story. “The AP continues to...
Sweden’s intel agency: there is ‘a real and serious threat’
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of Sweden’s domestic intelligence agency says there is “a real and serious threat against the security” of the country, which “has an increased military strategic importance.” Sapo head Anders Thornberg says the agency has “never had a bigger and more complex task,” adding cooperating with others — at...
Dutch PM Mark Rutte, a traditional Dutch consensus builder
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte prides himself on his optimism. He has had it tested repeatedly in six years in office as his country has plumbed the depths of economic crisis, been plunged into mourning by the downing of a passenger jet in eastern Ukraine and, just days before national elections, descended into the...
Foreign couple arrested in UAE for unwed sex is released
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African man and his pregnant Ukrainian fiancee will not face charges in the United Arab Emirates following their arrest for having sex outside of marriage, a South African newspaper reported Friday. Charges against Emlyn Culverwell and fiancee Iryna Nohai were dropped in Abu Dhabi, The Herald reported. It quoted the...
Moldova: Russia intimidating officials over corruption probe
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Moldova accused Russia’s intelligence service on Thursday of intimidating politicians and other officials, amid an investigation in the former Soviet republic into alleged money laundering by Russian officials. Moldova’s Parliament said Russia intelligence agents had “abusively stopped…. interrogated, and...
Kremlin denies violating nuclear arms pact with US
MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Thursday rejected U.S. claims of Russian violations of a landmark nuclear arms treaty, saying it has respected the pact and will continue to do so. The controversy over the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty adds another thorn in the side for U.S. President Donald Trump’s declared goal of improving...
